The Legends of Chaos
by Valerie G.dragonballqueendbzma
Summary: Hey! Chapter Five is here! So what did Vegeta decide? Did Bulma ever find out about Clarice? Who was following her on the motorcycle? Read to find the answers to these questions and more!
1. Prologue

Prologue   
  
  
  
Never before, in all of their golden heritage, had there been a more magnificent sight...   
  
The recently established, outer main hall of the royal palace was a massive, gothic structure... with a high, curved ceiling; sloping delicately from its center, it flowed downward smoothly- merging seamlessly with the enormous stone pillars- forming an awe-inspiring archway. The passage itself lacked all but basic decorum, not requiring the aesthetic enhancement of the needless, dainty accessories that had come to be synonymous with royal display elsewhere.   
  
This was an empire that had been forged in the heat of battle and with the blood of thousands of loyal warriors... and it would be treated as such. What had been created to honor the memory of the countless fallen soldiers and symbolize the everlasting strength of their people would not be made shameful by frivolous, romantic adornments. There was no need for them anyway, as the edifice was, in itself, already majestic in its simplicity. It held a silent air of distinction that commanded respect from all who darkened its steps and all who did have a chance to witness it's glory humbled themselves in its presence.   
  
Perched low upon each rising column sat a single, small torch, which were all lit, casting a series of intricate shadows and light which flowed and ebbed in a continuous, mesmerizing play across the floor. Interestingly, the curve of the walls also seemed to gather the faint, inadequate glowing of each individual staff, collecting and pooling the warm, golden radiance high up in its wide, consuming space- obviously, an effect that had been meticulously planned out in its construction- creating a steady, gentle illumination.  
  
Undoubtedly, this creation was a work of art... an unquestionable masterpiece in engineering and design. Yet, in all its glory, had another soul been present that night to bear witness to its grandeur, they might have said that the most striking thing was not the sprawling expanse of adamantine stone, but the hall's single lovely, occupant...  
  
***  
  
The outer hall slowly began to give way to darkness, the cool evening air growing stiller and warmer as columns of the outside world were replaced with walls the shade of burgundy, indicating that she'd finally reached the inner palace. Idly, she observed how much more imposing the interior halls were than that of which she had just traveled as she continued on, pushing forward into the dimly lit corridors, maneuvering her way expertly through the dusky labyrinth. All of which was easy enough, having worked in here so long, she knew every twist and turn like the back of her hand.   
  
Unconsciously, she let one hand stray up to tuck an imaginary, stray lock of hair behind her ear, as if trying to fix her already flawless appearance.  
  
Her tail tensed around her waist as she walked down the gigantic, elegant, seemingly deserted hallway. Her high-heeled boots clicked lightly on the marble floor as she walked, causing a hollow echo to reverberate throughout the hall.   
  
Thick, raven locks were swept up high upon her head in a simple, yet stunning fall of curls, which came down to the small of her back, helping to enhance the effect of the small black choker about her neck which set off a startling contrast against her pale skin. Her gold-studded leather ensemble fit her like a second skin, shaping itself exactly to her every curve and leaving little to the imagination. The sleeveless top of her bodice came up just inches above the swell of her breasts and flowed downward and flared just above her knees, giving her a very dramatic, seductive air without being openly suggestive. The suit was complimented by a pair of matching armbands, which only served to accent her finely toned muscles. And it was topped off by a delicate, gold V-shaped headband, which rode along her crown and dipped down between her eyes prettily, lending her a deceptive air of dainty femininity.   
  
Her tail twitched and fidgeted unendingly, as if having a mind of its own. She wrapped it around her waist, then unwrapped it and let it swing freely behind her from side to side. Then she stopped swinging it and let it hang behind her loosely. Then she wrapped it around her stomach, then let it slip down to her waist again.  
  
She couldn't help it - she was excited!! - Although, she wouldn't let anyone know it...  
  
When she first found out that she would be trusted with such an important mission, she wasn't very surprised. She was the King's right-hand, part of the Royal Elite! Why should she have not been picked? Not only was she part of the Royal Elite, but she was the Chief Adviser, Head Commander and Lieutenant, Grand Fleet Admiral, and the King's First in Command!! And beyond that point, she was one of the most powerful Super-Saiyans in the universe, if not the strongest one herself. She was a shoe-in.   
  
But for some reason... she felt so pleased, so flattered, so undeserving.  
  
Yes, this was an important mission, but why did she feel that it was so important to her? Of course, this was the Prince; he was an important person! And they had known each other very well, but... she felt like she needed to find him more for herself than for the King...  
  
As she walked down the enormous hall, the diamond-shaped charms which hung from her headband gave off a very soft, pleasant jingle, which somehow managed to soothe some of her wire-tight nerves... not by much, but it did help.   
  
She finally reached her destination, the Main Hall, one of the largest rooms in the entire castle. She planned on meeting Mason there.  
  
Mason was the lieutenant, which was one rank below her. In fact, at this point, there was no one above her rank except for the King himself. Her status was so high that she was the closest thing to being royalty without actually being a blood relative of the Royal Family. She saw him standing in a far corner of the room, looking out of one of the giant, arched windows.  
  
"I expect that the needs of the mission have been met?" *I forgot to mention - this chic has a British accent*   
  
Mason jumped, surprised at the voice. He'd been in deep thought, so he hadn't sensed a presence anywhere near him.   
  
He turned to see her standing right behind him, smirking because of the way he'd been startled.  
"I think you're beginning to lose your touch, Mason."  
  
"Good evening, Commander. ::ahem:: You startled me."  
  
"Well obviously."  
  
"Alright. About the mission - everything is ready. You are welcome to leave whenever you please."  
  
"Good. And I suspect that the King will want to speak with me before I leave?"  
  
"Your suspicions are correct," said Mason. "He is in his quarters waiting for you as we speak."  
  
She nodded and turned on her heel and walked out of the opposite door of the Main Hall. Mason just stood there and watched her walk until she was out of sight.  
  
He closed his eyes, sighed deeply, then said, "I only hope that you don't fail this mission, Clarice... for your own good...."   
  
  
  
* ^_^ ... 0_0 ... _ ... O_o ... !_! ... ~_~ ... ';'... =0) ... =0( ... :) ... :( ... =P ... ;) ... ^_^ ... 0_0 ... _ ... ^_^*  
  
Hey!! Like the chapter so far? I hope so! Well.... first off, I wanna say a giant THANK YOU to Komadori-chan MD for helping me write this. She has a great deal of writing skill, and she's really good with words. Good Job, K-chan! Check out some of her stories!! One of my favorites by her is An Obvious Answer, and it's about Vegeta finding a new way to beat Goku... it's really funny and cute.  
So... chapter 1 should be out soon. It depends on my mood. It's almost graduation, and my damn teachers are out to get me, I know it... sorry. I hope to get chapter 1 out soon. Thanx for reading!  
  
P.S. Now I know that the first chapter seems a bit lame, and that's only because nobody *except for me* is really quite sure about what's going on. And that's the point - most of the situation is shrouded in mystery, which is part of the reason why it is going to be so good. Even in the end, there are some mysteries that stay unsolved, although there are hints so you're not completely left hanging, although you can't be completely sure....  
  
  
Review? Please? 


	2. Chapter One: Her Mission

Hey. y'all! How r u? I'm soooooo sorry that this chapter took so long to come out... so I decided to make it really long to make up for the time. Also - for all y'all japanese illiterates, I'll be translated the japanese words for you, okay? That should make everyone happy.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z/GT, but I do own all of the characters I made up, the castle, the planet, all of the inventions that will be coming up, and the big event that will take place a lot later in the story...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter One: Her Mission  
  
  
  
As she walked down the long, paved path to her vessel, she thought about her mission and what she was to do if she in fact *did* find him. Her purpose was to find him, alive or dead.... If he was alive, bring him home. If he was dead.... At least find out where and how he had died. If he had been killed, find the   
person(s) that had killed him and show them what would happen to them if they took the life of the Prince of the Saiyans....   
  
  
But then an odd thought occurred to her: What *had* happened to him? The last time she had seen him, he had been setting out on a journey to Anthroxia along with Nappa and Raditz. They were going to destroy the inhabitants there, she had been told. She was on another assignment when she had caught wind of a change in their plans - Earth. As far as she could gather, something had happened to Raditz on a solo mission and Vegeta had decided to go out and investigate matters. But that's as far as she could look into it, as her work sent her all the way to a far away galaxy called M2, where she was needed immediately. That was the last time they had seen or heard from each other. After that, she had lost all contact with Vejitasei, and she received word that the planet had been destroyed.   
  
  
That was when she had had made the discovery of the existence of the legendary Black-Star Dragon balls, magical spheres capable of invoking a god that could summon the power to grant almost any wish. It was not long afterward that she had embarked on a diligent quest to recover them and wish the planet back, which she succeeded in doing with ease, much to her satisfaction.   
  
  
Had he died on Earth...? But... how could that have possibly happened? The habitants of Earth couldn't have possibly - they weren't strong enough, nor did they have the cavalry to destroy three saiyajins. And beyond that line of reasoning, the earth had a moon! Oh, she could just picture the carnage when the moon showed her full face... They should have much more than virtually indestructible. She estimated that they should have been able to destroy the species there within the space of two months.   
  
  
Then she remembered.... Another saiyajin had been sent there, as a child.... She had known his ather. His name was Bardock; he was a loyal soldier in the Saiyajin defense force... She had been told that he had been trying to stop Frieza from destroying the planet, but unfortunately had died in the struggle...   
  
  
But she'd found this ubelieiveable - Frieza, destroying Vejitasei? No, it couldn't be tue... She'd known Frieza as a child and as a teen, and she'd even slightly befriended him. No, that wasn't right, he couldn't have done it.   
  
  
So there were four saiyajins. And the child alone, whom should have been strong enough of its own accord, should have finished the job alone within three months. It should have been a massacre. She grimaced at the thought. She wasn't as much of a ruthless killer as saiyajins went - she could even be considered *nice*, at least by saiyajin standards. She would kill if she was ordered to (unless of course, she didn't believe that the person deserved to be killed), or if she had to, or even if she wanted to - which wasn't very often - but she wouldn't as much go off and destroy an entire planet. That was just.... Monstrous.   
  
  
Of course, this "soft" way of going about things had gotten her much ridicule from her peers in her time in the lower ranks - heck, it most likely STILL got some pretty bad views... the only reason she never heard it said outright anymore was because she was now so high ranking that if anyone dared to question her, they'd get discharged or killed for insubordination. And who would want to be disgraced because of a woman? The thought was simply shameful. So, of course, people preferred to keep things to themselves... or at least, out of earshot. Not that she really cared what they thought anyhow.  
  
  
She was pulled from her reverie when she saw the huge ship before her. It was very good looking - it was really big, and had a smooth, contoured shape. The top front side, which was slightly slanted, had a big, slightly arched window that looked as if it served as a windshield type device. On the top, she knew through experience would proudly display (since the side was a bit too thin to show it) the Vejitasei coat of arms. She raised an eyebrow continued walking toward the vessel. She saw a few royal officers standing below the ship, which was sitting on the ground. She walked over to one of them, who she knew as Senior Officer Dryphus.  
  
"Is there a problem, Officer Dryphus?" she asked, looking around the area.   
  
  
"No, Commander. We're just making a few last-minute verifications," said Dryphus as she observed the rest of the officers. "So... do you think that you'll complete this mission?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.  
  
  
"Oh, please don't ask," sighed Clarice. "I've already been through this enough with Vegeta, and I'll just tell you the same thing that I told him - I'll do my best."  
  
  
"What else did he try to *emphasize* upon you?" asked Dryphus, humor clearly in her voice.   
  
  
"Don't ask," repeated Clarice. "...But... he did offer to 'reward' me if I completed the mission successfully..."  
  
  
Dryphus almost laughed at the exasperated look on Clarice's face. "It seems that you're on a first-name basis with him..."  
  
  
Clarice looked at Dryphus with a slightly annoyed expression. "The only reason I called him by his first name was because I don't think that he deserves the honor of being called 'Your Highness'..." she grimaced slightly, "More along the lines of 'Your Royal Ass'..."  
  
  
Dryphus laughed out loud at that, but then said, still laughing slighly, "You really musn't speak of our King in such a manner... even if you don't enjoy being under his rule, like it or not, we're sworn to follow him... you musn't question his directives."  
  
  
"Oh *shut up*," said Clarice, rolling her eyes playfully. "*Must* you be so submissive..."  
  
  
Dryphus elbowed Clarice in the stomach good-humoredly and then turned to speak to another officer that had jogged over to her.  
  
  
"Alright. I believe you can leave now," said Dryphus when she finished speaking to the other officer. "Everything seems to be in order."  
  
  
She nodded and smiled and began to walk toward the ship, which was now floating above the ground. As soon as she arrived before the entrance (a circular door that spun open), a walkway protruded from it as if on command. She moved up the walkway and the automatic door slid open as she appeared before them. She strode into the main room of the vessel and took in the ambience. After looking around a bit, she strode towards the opposite side of the ship (which took a while, considering the size of the ship) and stood before the control panel. She pressed a blue button. Suddenly a hologram sign popped up, and a pleasant, mechanical voice reading the sign said, "Autopilot. Please set coordinates."  
  
  
"Set coordinates to..." she cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment.  
  
'Well, that's the last place I knew about... maybe he's still there...'  
  
"Earth."  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*   
It was a bright and sunny day on earth. As usual, the whole gang was at Capsule Corporation, hanging out.   
  
  
Chi-Chi had just cooked a huge meal and now everyone was just sitting around, relaxing. Pan, Marron, Bra, and Nazomi *my own made up character... Piccolo's daughter* were in Bra's room, talking and listening to one of Nazomi's CDs from her extensive music collection.  
  
  
Chi-Chi, Videl, Juuhachigou, Bulma, and Mercy *Piccolo's beautiful French wife^_^* were in the kitchen, talking. Most of the guys (Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Kuririn, Uubu, and Yamucha) were in the living room watching a baseball game. Piccolo was outside meditating (which Mercy always thought he looked *so* cute doing), and Vegeta, as usual, was in the Gravity Room training.  
  
  
And as for Master Roshii and Oolong - they were in one of the guest rooms, playing a video game - now this may seem unusual for them to be doing, being the perverts that they were, but that was the point - they were playing a game called 'Primal Image', which Nazomi had given Master Roshii (if he promised to stop being such a pervert around girls). And this was no regular game - the game featured a variety of different women (mostly teenage girls) that they could choose from, put them in whatever type of clothes that they wanted (if not to leave them completely naked), and the catch was that they were able to pose them however they wanted.   
  
  
And now, Master Roshii, with a drooling Oolong at his side, was in the midst of posing a girl with a yellow/orange string bikini lying on her back with her legs wide open... *I'm not kidding, this is an actual game... really disgusting, if u ask me....*  
  
A lot of noise cold be heard coming from the living room; the guys in there considered the game going on now important, it being the last game of the season, and a lot of people were showing great support for their own team, which included shouting at the top of their lungs as if the players could hear them.  
  
  
"YES!! Oh Kami, somebody get Nazomi!!" cried Goten, looking as if someone just gave him a fifty-course dinner.   
  
  
"Why?" asked Trunks, who was backing away from Goten, trying not to get hurt as Goten started jumping up and down and doing what looked like dancing.  
  
  
"We made a bet," said Goten as he began to calm down, though not completely - he still had an ear-to-ear grin on his face and was shaking like mad. Still panting, his fists clenched, he continued -   
  
  
"She bet me that by fifth - inning, the Sox would be up by at least two points!!" *I don't even know anything about baseball... I'm just making this up* "I told her that she was crazy and that the Yankees would be in the lead, so we made a bet!! Now she owes me nine hundred dollars!!" he said ecstatically.   
  
  
"You guys bet *that* much money?" said Gohan incredulously.   
  
  
"We're both *very* confident in our teams, " Goten spoke seriously before going back into histerics.   
  
  
"Ah," said Gohan as he nodded, looking slightly amused.  
  
  
"I'll go get Nazomi," said Trunks. "I was gonna get a soda in a minute anyway.."  
  
  
He got up and walked through the kitchen where the women were talking to get the soda, and then he took the stairs by two to Bra's room. When he got there, he heard loud music coming from inside and the door was locked. He knocked, but the music was too loud, then knocked a little bit harder, causing the door to shake.   
  
  
Suddenly the music got quieter. He heard the lock coming undone and saw Bra standing behind the door as it opened.  
  
  
"Hey," she said.   
  
"Where's Nazomi?" he asked, walking into the room.  
  
  
"Over here, Boxers!!" he heard Nazomi's voice shout.  
  
  
He looked over at the other side of the large room, where he saw Pan and Nazomi lying on the floor. Pan was apparently concentrating hard, though both her and Nazomi looked as if they would burst out laughing at any moment.  
  
  
"What are you guys doing?" asked Trunks, seeing the board as he walked over to where they were lying on the floor.  
  
  
"They're playing 'Scribble'," said a bemused Marron, who had gotten up from Bra's bed to walk over and wrap he arms around Trunks.   
  
He looked at the board more closely, putting his arm on her shoulder. "I thought it was called 'Scrabble'," he said, looking confused.   
  
  
"Well if you wanna play it *their* way it is," said Nazomi as she looked up at him with her bright orange eyes, a child-like smile on her face as she swung her legs back and forth. "But this way is more fun."  
  
  
"Oh, really? Well how do you play 'Scribble'?"  
  
  
"The same way as 'Scrabble'. Except in 'Scribble', we use nonsense words. Like a minute ago, I spelled out 'wazza'..." she had a broad grin on her face as she looked back own at the board, showing off her sharp white fangs.  
  
  
"Aha!!!" shouted Pan suddenly (causing everyone to jump and Trunks to start choking on his soda), laughing like a maniac as she chose six out of her seven letters and put them down on the board.   
  
  
"BOOOH-YA!!! Triple word score!!" she cried as if this meant that she had won a million dollars. "I win!! (Which is pretty good, I was running out of letters...)"   
  
  
Nazomi looked down at the word Pan had spelled out. "Zazzow? Nice one!!" she said. "I never would have thought of that word..."   
  
  
"...Oh yeah, Nazomi - Goten wanted to talk to you downstairs," said Trunks after he recovered.  
  
  
"Okay." Nazomi got up and stretched, then walked back downstairs with Trunks.   
  
  
Goten was still breathing heavily when Trunks and Nazomi walked into the room. The game had gone to a commercial break, and most of the guys were talking about the score and their predictions for the rest of the game.   
  
  
"Ya know... that Radio Shack guy kinda looks like Duke Nukem with those shades on," said Nazomi thoughtfully as she stared at the man on the commercial.   
  
  
"You know... I have *never* noticed that before," said Goten goofily as he looked at the TV. "You're right..."  
  
  
"So what did you want, Ten?" Nazomi asked Goten as she sat half on the arm of the plush chair and leaning down on his shoulder so that she was half in his lap.   
  
  
He gave her an evil grin, making her orange eyes go wide. "What?"  
  
  
"You'll see," he said, a hint of maliciousness in his voice.   
  
  
Nazomi stared at him.  
  
  
"Just watch," he said, pointing to the television screen.  
  
  
As if on command, the game came back and one of the men doing the commentary immediately said, "Let's check up on those scores, shall we? In the first inning..." he announced the scores for each inning and finally got to the fifth, indicating that the Yankees were about 3 points in the lead.   
  
  
Nazomi stared at the television, her mouth open and her eyes wide, looking as if she wanted to blow it up right then and there. At first she was quiet, then -   
  
  
"DAMN IT!!" she cried, though she didn't feel quite as angry as she let on; She didn't really need the money, her parents spoiled her rotten - She could have anything she wanted. And her mother was plenty rich, nine hundred dollars didn't really matter to her.   
  
But she *hated* losing.  
  
  
Goten just sat there, twiddling his thumbs and smirking. Nazomi sat back down, her face in a cross   
state.   
  
  
"Fine, Ten, you win..." she growled, getting up again and taking her silvery, bubble-patterned wallet out of her pocket. Goten heard her mutter, "Pedro, how could you do this to me?" She took nine one-hundred-dollar bills out of it and shoved them into his hand.   
  
  
"I *will* win next time... you'd better get ready to be my personal butler!"  
  
  
"I don't think so," said Goten, looking through the money.  
  
  
"Oh yeah?" said Nazomi.   
  
"Yeah!" said Goten, taking his eyes off of the money for the first time in a few minutes to look at Nazomi.  
  
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"Yeah!"   
  
"You wanna bet?" said Nazomi challengingly.  
  
  
"I zink zat's enough betting for now," said Mercy, who was leaning on the door frame, her arms crossed. She looked at Nazomi and clicked her tongue disapprovingly as she shook her head.  
  
"Okay," said Goten, who was staring at Mercy.   
Nazomi gave him a look that said plainly, "You are *hopeless*!" and walked over to her mother to give her a hug.   
  
"I'm sorry, mommy, I'll never do it again," said Nazomi in a baby-ish voice as she hugged her mother.  
  
"Oh, eet's alright, darling," said Mercy, rubbing Nazomi's back gently. She smiled at Nazomi and gave her a kiss on her forehead.   
  
When Mercy left to go back to the kitchen, Nazomi gave herself a satisfied smirk - she could still get her parents to do whatever she wanted them to. Not that she didn't like or respect her parents - she loved them, of course - but she just liked knowing that she could control them and get away with anything.   
  
They suddenly heard shouts behind them as the game finished - the Yankees had won. Nazomi stomped hard on the ground, causing the room to shake slightly.  
  
"No!" she cried. "Pedro, Manny, Nomar.. how could you guys do this to me...?"  
  
"What's going on down here?" they turned to see Chi-Chi standing in the doorway, a frown upon her face.  
  
"The Sox just lost the game," Goten answered for her since Nazomi was still staring at the television set in horror.   
  
"Well that's still no reason to be making so much noise," she said. "Try to keep it quiet."  
  
"You guys are just calling *all* of the attention to this room, huh?" said Pan as she walked into the room, holding a party-size bag of chips. "Aw man, the Sox lost?" she said, a slight grimace of disappointment on her face. She noticed Nazomi staring at the bag with a scowl on her face as if the chips were her worst enemy.  
  
"You want some?" said Pan teasingly - she knew Nazomi wouldn't eat any of it.  
  
"Ugh... no thank you. Too fattening..."  
  
"So? You could work off the fat in about two seconds."  
  
"Uh-uh. I don't know how you can stand that stuff... It destroys your body. And if I ever want that much grease, I will just crack open a jug o' Crisco and take a nice long swig, thank-you-very-much..." she stated, still eyeing the bag hatefully - Like her father, Nazomi didn't eat very often.  
  
Pan shook her head and laughed softly. She looked at the TV and they could see her eyebrows raising behind the bag chips. "So you lost the bet, huh?" she said before putting another handful of chips into her mouth.  
  
"Yeah... But the Sox should've won," said Nazomi sadly.   
  
"No way! I knew that the Yankees would win," said Goten.   
  
"*Liar*!" cried Nazomi, pointing an accusing finger at him.  
  
Soon enough, there was huge discussion about who should've won and why. They began listing players, starters, hitters, past games, winning streaks each team had ever had, etc.   
  
"Yeah, but - " said Goku, who was in the midst of defending the Sox, suddenly stopped talking, and the others knew exactly why. They suddenly felt a massive power. Everyone suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been put on every part of their bodies, as if the air had gained about a ton. Even Piccolo had stopped meditating. Vegeta, who had been sitting in a tree resting, suddenly stood up, eyes wide. He recognized that ki signature immediately. He closed his eyes, brows furrowed, trying to concentrate on where the enormous force was coming from.  
  
Chi-Chi, Bulma, Juuhachigou, Videl, Bra, Marron, and Mercy went to the living room, worried   
expressions on their faces - except for Juuhachigou, who looked intrigued.   
  
"So you felt it too?" asked Goku.  
  
"Yeah," answered Bulma. This only showed the strength of whatever the ki energy was coming from - even people that weren't trained to recognize ki signatures could feel the tension in the atmosphere.   
  
"Hey... what if it's a new enemy?" asked Nazomi, a mixture of alarm and enthusiasm in her voice. She'd always heard stories about the old enemies such as Frieza, Cell, the Androids, etc. - and always wanted to be in some type of battle.   
"I 'ope not," said Mercy.  
  
"Whoever or whatever that is.... is really strong..." said Goten, overwhelmed by the feeling. None of them had ever felt anything like it before.  
  
Soon, everyone was outside, trying to figure out where it was coming from - but it was so big it seemed to be coming from *everywhere*.  
  
Suddenly Vegeta jumped out of the tree that he was sitting in.  
  
"I don't know about you lethargic bakas," said Vegeta harshly, "but I'm going to check this out. I've been looking for a good fight..." with that, he powered up to super saiyajin level 1 and was about to fly away when Bulma grabbed his arm.   
  
"Be careful," said, a worried expression on her face.  
  
"Humph... Whatever, woman," he grunted, and blasted off in the direction of the power source, determined to ignore his Earthbound mate's emotional probing.  
  
The rest of them stood there, still trying to contemplate what they where going to do.  
  
"I'm going too," Piccolo growled suddenly. "I want to know what this is about." Without another word, he blasted off after Vegeta.   
  
"Maybe we should all go," said Trunks. "Whatever this is... we all know that it's too strong for only a few of us to take on by ourselves. I doubt that even all of us would be able to stand up against it together..."  
  
"Trunks is right. And besides, we can't leave Vegeta and Piccolo out there by themselves," said Goten, though he looked just as anxious as everyone else did.  
  
"I'm going," piped up Pan.   
  
"Me too," Juuhachigou murmured, getting ready to take off.  
  
"Ditto," Kuririn and Yamucha boomed in unison.  
  
"Are you coming?" Yamucha asked Nazomi before he blasted off. "You could really help us out if we got into trouble...."   
  
"Maybe later," she said, looking slightly nervous.  
  
He looked confused at first, then nodded and blasted off into the air after the others.   
  
"Mom, did you see where I put my car keys?" asked Nazomi as she searched her pockets.  
  
"Can't you fly?" asked Mercy. Not that she wanted Nazomi to go, but she was well aware of her airborne capabilities.   
  
"Yeah, but do you see my hair?" she asked, pointing to her long, silky maroonish-purple hair, which was mostly free, except for bangs and a few half-braided ponytails at the top of her head. "If I fly, this like sooo totally gonna frizz," she said as she walked inside to search her purse.   
  
After a few minutes, she came back, a victorious look on her face, declaring that she'd found her keys.  
  
"You guys wanna come?" she asked as she walked over to the car (which had a license plate that said 'QUEEN NA-NA' on it).  
  
"I've got dibs on the front seat," said Bra as she ran over to the passenger side and hopped in.  
  
"Eef you're going, I'm comeeng weeth you," said Mercy, throwing on her brown, fur-trimmed leather jacket.  
  
"I'm coming too," said Marron as she jumped in beside Bra (there were three seats up-front).  
  
"You might as well all come," said Nazomi as she fixed her rear-view mirror. "Unless you wanna stay here with Master Roshii or something..." she stopped playing with the mirror and concentrated on where everyone's ki was.  
  
By the time she found them, the rest of the women were in the two back rows of the car. She smirked and started the large, red Hummer jeep and the truck was suddenly filled with loud music. Nazomi instantly turned it down and muttered, "Sorry," purple flecks of color crossing her green face as she blushed.  
  
She floored the pedal and they were off.  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
Everyone (that could fly) was flying south, towards the power source. And to their utter surprise, it completely disappeared. Everyone stopped abruptly.   
"Well, whatever it was either is gone now or is masking their power really well," said Juuhachigou, taken back.   
Everyone decided mentally that the person was masking their power.  
"If we go to where we last felt the ki signature, we might find a clue," said Goku. So they kept going.  
And it happened that Goku was right - they did find a clue when they got there. Their 'clue' turned out to be a very big, jade gray ship. The ship was floating a few hundred meters above the ground.   
  
"Cool," said Goten out loud, though he hadn't meant to.  
  
Pan flew around the ship to investigate it more closely. When she was above the ship, she froze.  
  
"What is it?" shouted Uubu.  
  
"There's some type of weird emblem on the top of this thing," said Pan, looking down at the ship. The others flew up to see what she was talking about it. And sure enough, there was a lionized, gold "V" with two crossed, emblazoned swords in the background.   
  
"What could that mean?" asked Trunks, his head tipped to the side in confusion.   
  
"I know exactly what it is," said a gruff voice from behind them. Everyone turned to see Vegeta floating in midair, arms crossed, head bowed down. To their surprise, his face wasn't in its usual livid statue appearance, but in a blank state. No readable expression at all.  
  
"Well... what is it?" asked Pan. He raised his head, his face completely solemn.   
  
"It's the Vejitasei Coat of Arms," he said quietly.  
  
Everyone stared at him in utter shock.   
  
After what seemed like ten minutes, Goku said, "Are you sure?"  
  
"Of course I'm sure, dimwit," spat Vegeta, annoyed.  
  
"But that's impossible... I thought that Freiza had destroyed Vejitasei," said Kuririn.  
  
"It did," mumbled Vegeta quietly.   
  
"Well then... h-how could the Coat of Arms be on this ship?" said Pan.  
  
Vegeta didn't answer right away. He just floated there, arms crossed, his head bowed down. He could only think of one explanation for this...  
  
"I don't know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.  
  
"Maybe this is a trick," said Goten. "Maybe this ship isn't really from Vejitsei..."  
  
"No, it's real. The ship... it looks saiyan," said Vegeta. Everyone thought that something was weird about Vegeta. He wasn't yelling, he didn't look mad... he was just floating there like he was numb.   
  
Was he *scared*?  
  
All of a sudden, everyone felt the huge burst of power again. They immediately had to descend to the ground. Vegeta powered up to super saiyajin level two and blasted off again, this time going east.  
  
"....I'm guessing that whatever it is... is over there," said Kuririn, his eyebrow raised.  
  
"We should follow him," said Piccolo.  
  
Now everyone was flying east, following Vegeta's faint ki trail. Vegeta began to slow down, then stopped. He landed about a hundred meters from the coast of a beach. The others landed there as well. They still felt the huge power nearby, but they couldn't quite pinpoint where it was coming from. Then they felt it a bit farther west. But to their surprise, Vegeta took off flying farther east. They thought that of all people, he would want to know what was going on...  
  
*****************************************  
  
Vegeta continued flying east, away from where the power *seemed* to be coming from. He knew that maneuver all too well, and that the source of the power was really coming from the opposite direction. He finally saw her standing on a cliff, looking out at the ocean below.  
  
He couldn't believe how much she'd changed since he'd last seen her. For one thing, her hair had doubled in length, and her body was much more curvacious, even though she had been pretty well developed when he'd left. She also looked older, but still very young despite her age.   
  
She was wearing a skin-tight leather suit which had a zipper in front, and the zipper was pulled down slightly, exposing some cleavage. She had a pink Scouter over her left eye, though he doubted that she needed it, and her tail, silky brown fur and all, was wrapped around her thin waist.  
  
  
He landed soundlessly behind her, and then crossed his arms. They both knew that she knew he was there.  
  
  
She smiled, still looking out at the ocean that was spread before them, and then turned around slowly.  
  
  
"...Why, hello," she said, still smiling warmly. She had a very deep, husky voice - her voice was low, commanding, and resilient, with abundant power - but at the same time pleasant and kind, and could be very sensual and soothing. *And also - remember that British accent that I told you about last time* "I'd almost thought you'd forgotten about that tactic."   
The tactic she was referring to was an evasion technique, taught to a special few saiyajins - they could divert their ki to another direction so that whatever enemy they were against would think that they were in one place when they were really in another, confusing the adversary and giving the saiyajin the chance, if severely needed, to escape.  
He merely smiled. "You almost fooled me," he said quietly.  
  
She grinned and then turned to sit on the edge of the cliff, her legs hanging off of the edge.  
  
"Who were they?" she asked after a moment, her voice sounding serious.  
  
"Who?" he asked, as if he didn't know who she were speaking of.  
  
"The people that were trying to follow me."  
  
"...I don't know... And now I have a question for you," he said, also sounding serious.  
  
She remained silent, knowing what the question was going to be.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"...I should be asking you the same thing," she said. "What happened?"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Where's Nappa?"  
  
"Dead," he answered, making her gray eyes go wide. "He was weak. I killed him."  
  
She was still quite surprised, but nodded nonetheless and looked down. "And Raditz?"  
  
"...He is also dead," he said. "But he died under different circumstances."  
  
She looked back down at the water. "...You?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why are you still here? Why haven't you completed the mission yet?"  
  
Now there was something he was going to have trouble answering.  
  
"...I got stuck here," he lied. "My ship was destroyed and I was stranded."  
  
Her eyebrow was raised, she knew he was lying, but she didn't enquire him any farther on the subject.  
  
"Wasn't there another saiyan here? Bardock's son?"  
  
"...yes..."  
  
"Well do you know where he is? Is he alive?"  
  
"He's alive," said Vegeta dully. "But when we got here, he'd lost his programming, and had lost his tail... so he'd been living among these humans as if he were one of them."  
  
"And the same situation befalls you, I presume?" she asked quietly.  
  
"Ahre?" *Huh?*  
  
She pointed to him. "You're tail seems to be missing, you are dressed like a human, and the fact that you've been here for about four decades is a supporting factor."  
  
He'd forgotten about the ensemble he was wearing - the black sleeveless jacket, the black tank-top, black jeans, boots and the fingerless gloves. *Well.. just picture the basic GT outfit, really*  
  
His hair was also a lot shorter than it was when he'd first come to earth. *GT hair, too*  
  
He looked back at her to find that she'd been staring at him.  
  
"Well you've changed, too," he said as if it were an excuse.  
  
She laughed softly and shook her head. "At least *my* changes were good..."  
  
"Yes, they were..." said Vegeta as he looked over her body. When he realized what he'd said and done, he slapped himself mentally.   
  
"But do you know what... what happened to Vejitasei? I've heard rumors, but... I just don't believe them..."  
  
"What rumors?"  
  
"...Well... I... I heard that Frieza did it... destroyed Vejitasei..." she shook her head slowly. "But of course, I just don't think that it could be true... I mean, why would he? He wouldn't..."  
  
"Well... I knew that the planet had been destroyed a few months after I got here," he began. He sighed suddenly, "He would and he did."   
  
Now she just looked shocked. She didn't even ask. She didn't want to know. She turned away, her look of shock melting into a look of sick disgust, disgust in finding out that someone you trusted did something like that....  
  
"So where *is* Bardock's child, anyway?" she said, changing the subject.  
  
"...around..."  
  
"Vegeta, don't do that."  
  
He shrugged in response.  
  
She scowled, though she wasn't very angry. She turned around and looked at him again. He looked so much older, yet still so young... he had continued his training, obviously. For one thing, his ki was quite a bit higher, though he didn't have his tail, and that should have reduced his energy level ten times... and his muscles were much more developed and defined...  
  
And his hair, she liked it. It looked better short.  
  
She smiled and blushed slightly when she realized that she'd been staring at him. It had been a long time since she'd seen him, the only image of him being a portrait in the Hall of Kings in the castle... and of course, his father, a perfect picture of him, except King Vegeta had a goatee, and his face wasn't as defined and strong...   
  
She looked down at the ocean below them, and watched the sun as it began to set, a beatiful sunset accompanied by flourishes of color, going from yellow to orange to pink, to red, to purple, to a deep, dark blue...  
  
'It doesn't even compare to the sunsets on Vegita-sei,' she thought, grinning.  
  
"What are you smiling at?" asked Vegeta, who had realized that she was suddenly grinning at nothing,  
  
"...Hmm...? Oh, the sunset... I like them more back home... I find watching *both* suns setting at once is more beautiful..." she sighed and rested her chin in her hand, still staring at the sunset.  
  
He looked at her, and found himself staring in awe at her beauty. She'd always been beautiful, her entire life... and now, sitting with that content look on her face, the light from the sunset illuminating and shadowing her features, accenting her high cheekbones...  
  
He shook his head slightly, clearing his mind of such thoughts. No, he was married to Bulma now, and he was bonded with her... he loved her very, very, much, though he'd never admitted it in his life, and wasn't exactly planning on doing so anytime soon. What he'd had with Clarice was in the past.   
  
Now all he'd have to do was tell her.  
  
This was going to be hard, considering the fact that the woman could kill him with little or no effort in *much* less than a nano-second without a second thought to it.  
  
The look of wonder suddenly left her face. She frowned, looking slightly sad.  
  
Just *ever* so slightly.  
  
"...You..." she exhaled deeply, and contined, "You have another mate, don't you..." she said, turning to look at him with her chin still in her palm.  
  
He looked taken back. How did she know?  
  
"Human, I presume?" she said, looking back at the still setting sun. "I don't remember there ever being any other dominant speicies here that were... 'related' to saiyans..."   
  
He knew what she meant by 'related' - it meant that humans had the same qualities as saiyans, except of course the attribute of power; these qualities being the same body anatomy, ability to think, work, reproduce, and of course, to love.  
  
"...*And* I can say quite confidently that you have at least one child."  
  
How did she know all this? He felt kind of sorry, owing to the fact that she looked quite expressionless. Clarice's face always expressed some type of emotion, whether it be anger, exasperation, amusement, boredom, happiness... and the only time her face didn't display some type of emotion was when she was depressed or upset and didn't want to show it.  
  
"...Y-yes," he said. "How did you know?"  
  
"I can tell... and remember when I asked you who those people were?"  
  
"Hai." *Yes.*  
  
"Well... I was hoping you'd tell me the truth about that," she said quietly. "I could feel an excess of your ki in one of them. That automatically told me-"  
  
"That he was my son," finished Vegeta, feeling quite stupid. He knew that the person she'd felt had to be Trunks.  
  
She nodded slowly, her eyes cast downward.  
  
"Gomen nasai... daijoubu?" he asked. *I'm sorry... Are you alright?*  
  
"Shinpai shinai," she said, shrugging her shoulders. *It's Alright.* Then she looked at him and said softly, "Sugei..." before turning away. *Wow...*  
  
"Nani?" he asked. *What?*   
  
"...human..." she said, laughing softly and looking up at the sky.  
  
"So? Do you have a problem with it?" he asked fiercely.  
  
"Iie... Wakatta... tonde monai," she said quietly, though she still looked a little amused. *No... I understand... Not a problem* "But I know someone that *will* have a problem with it," she said, suddenly looking serious.  
  
"Nani? Who?" *What? Who?*  
  
"Your father." She looked at him, not knowing what to expect.   
  
"*What*?" he said, his voice a dangerous whisper, his face split between disbelief and rage.   
  
She understood how he felt, and she knew that he hated his father more then anything in the world. And even more, he was intimidated by him, which actually wasn't his shortcoming - King Vegeta was a very intimidating person, even almost scary if he wanted to be. He was also cunning, ruthless, dangerous, and could turn even the best of allies against each other.  
"He's *alive*?" asked Vegeta.  
  
"Ano... hai," she answered. *Um... yeah*  
  
"Since when?" exclaimed Vegeta.  
  
"Well... after I found out that the planet had been destroyed.... Have you ever heard of the Black-Star Dragon Balls?"  
  
"..hai.." *...yes...*  
  
"Well, I got the Dragon Balls together and wished it back..."  
  
Vegeta buried his face in his hands, and then he began to massage his temples slowly.  
  
"Well, I suppose that you know why I'm here now," she said quietly after a moment.  
  
"T-to take me *back*?" he stuttered in anger, his voice still excercising the same dangerous whisper.  
  
"...H-hai," she said quietly. *...Y-yes* She wasn't afraid of him, but she was afraid of what his reaction could be.   
  
"USO!!" he yelled. *NO WAY!!*   
  
"Vegeta, Onegai!!" she cried. *Vegeta. Please!!* "At least-"  
  
"Iie!" he spat. *No!*  
  
She looked down at the waves that were crashing at the bottom of th cliff. She could understand if and why he didn't want to go back... after being on this planet for so long, he proabably liked it here... and he had probably become accustomed to everyone and everything throughout the planet. He most likely even considered it a second home.  
  
And then there was the fact that he was bonded with a human... She stared at him for a moment, then turned to look at the sunset.   
  
This was harder for her than she thought it would be.   
  
King Vegeta was what some people would call 'racist', but not in the manner that most people thought of it - he thought that saiyans were meant to rule the galaxy, that they were the strongest, the best, the most intelligent, and that all other populaces of the universe were nothing but lowly, dirty, vermin made to be game for the saiyans to hunt and kill for sport, and if ever left to live, to be their slaves and do whatever they wished without any type of resistence; to live in the shadow of the saiyans, to be ridiculed and belittled...  
  
"Maybe-" she bagan before Vegeta interrupted.  
  
"I ALREADY SAID -"  
  
Before he could finish, Clarice grabbed him by the shoulders and slapped him across the face. Luckily, she could control her immense power, or she may have killed him right then, but she only slapped him hard enough to stun him a bit.  
  
"Vegeta! Urusai!" *Vegeta! Shut up!* "Please let me speak for a moment..."  
  
When he didn't say anything, she continued. "I have a proposition to make," she said quietly, looking him in the eye. She let go of him when she was sure he wouldn't interfere anymore. She sighed and continued.  
  
"I will give you... some time to think about it. Let's say... a week? I'm not supposed to, I'm supposed to find you and drag you back kicking and screaming if I have to," she said, her crimson lips curling slightly into a tiny smile. "But I think that you have a right to decide."  
  
He looked down at the ground. She was doing this for him?   
  
"And if it happens that you choose to stay here," she continued, "I'll... I'll just call this mission failed and mark you as 'lost'," she said, shrugging her shoulders, though she seemed almost fearful of the possibility that he would make that decision; if she failed the mission, she would most likely be discharged, though the King might let it go - one, for being the best right-hand any King had ever had, and two, because he - well, she didn't want to think about it.  
  
"A...::sigh::...Arigatou," he said quietly. *Th...::Sigh::...Thank you*  
  
She looked up at him, surprised, then smiled. "Doitashimashite," she said, still smiling. *Your welcome*   
  
"And about your family," she said suddenly, "And whatever friends you have here... You are welcome to tell them about your predicament if you trust them... and you are absolutely sure that they will not pressure you either way. But I'd advise you..." she took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently, "to do whatever makes you happy."  
  
He looked at her, disbelieving.  
  
"Clarice..."  
  
She smiled and put her finger to his lips, shushing him, and then she found herself looking at his mouth. She leaned over and kissed him softly, her soft lips just brushing his own for a few seconds.  
  
She pulled back from the kiss, much to both of their distress. She whispered softly, her face still only inches from his, "Just for old time's sake..."   
  
She got up and turned back to smile at him one last time, then blasted off into the dark twighlight of the sky.  
  
**************************************************************************************************************  
  
"No, I swear, that ki was RIGHT HERE!" cried Pan, becoming more and more agrivated.  
  
They'd been standing in that same area by the beach all afternoon, feeling the ki move around them as if it were only a ghost. By sunset, they'd heard the roar of an engine, and could see the redness of Nazomi's Hummer through the mass of dust and sand that it's rugged tires had been kicking up.   
  
But to their surprise, the ki disappeared again, and this time it was taking longer to come back, if it were coming back.  
  
Now it was dusk, the sun setting behind the clear blue water of the ocean, and everyone was waiting, waiting for something to show up and reveal where this mysterious force was coming from.  
  
Bra and Marron were singing along with one of Nazomi's Destiny's Child CDs in the front seat of the Hummer; Mercy was sitting on the hood of the car, her chin sitting in her palms, talking to Piccolo; Videl and Chi-Chi were all the way in the back (the third row), just talking; Nazomi was playing with one of her laptops, this one of which she'd found in the trunk of the car before she'd gone over to ask Pan what had happened; and Bulma was trying to get as much info as she could on Vegeta's whereabouts.   
"What if this is the spirit of a dead saiyajin?!" said Nazomi.   
"What?" said Pan, looking confused.  
"Y'know, it could be," continued Nazomi. "I mean... since there's a ki and there's no one to be seen anywhere near it... it doesn't seem to have any 'owner'..."  
Pan and Nazomi looked at eachother for a moment, then said "Nah," in unison, shaking their heads.  
  
"But I know what it could be," said Pan suddenly. "Once I was talking to Vegeta... and I asked him if he were in hiding and really weak, what he would do, because he's always taking pride in how strong he is... and he told me he'd 'Never be in such a predicament'... but he said that if he ever were in that situation, he'd keep fighting the enemy, AND he would win." She shook her slowly. "But then he muttered something about how someone exremely weak would divert their ki to get away. He called it pathetic..."  
  
"So... so you think that that's what's going on?" asked Nazomi, looking intrigued.   
  
"Uh-huh..."  
  
"C'mon! Let's go tell everyone else!"  
  
"But Nazo-"  
  
But Pan's pleas went un-noticed by the excited Nazomi, who had grabbed her hand and was practically dragging her towards the group.  
  
"Pan thinks that she knows where the 'thing' is!" cried Nazomi, running over to everyone else and hauling Pan along with her.  
  
"Really? Where?" asked Gohan.  
  
"Uh..." Pan began to feel nervous, now everyone was staring at her. "Thanks a lot, Nazomi," she hissed at her before she began talking. "Ano... V-Vegeta told me once that w-weaker saiyajins c-could divert their ki in order to escape from an enemy," she explained.   
  
"But I wouldn't exactly call whatever that thing was *weak*," said Uubu.  
  
"...He didn't say that they could divert it to a special direction, all he said was that it would the other person off..."  
  
"So... you mean that whatever that thing was could be *anywhere*?" said Goten.  
  
"I guess so..."   
  
"Hey! Maybe they could throw their ki in the opposite direction," said Bra, who'd been sitting in the doorway of the car, listening. "I mean, the opposite direction is the farthest you can possibly get them from you, right...?"  
  
"Oh my GOD Bra, you're smarter than you look," said Nazomi teasingly.  
  
Bra glowered at her, though there was a smile of amusement tugging at the corners of her lips.  
  
"Oh! So THAT'S why Vegeta went east when the force seemed to be going farther west," said Goku. "Same to you, Koo-koo clock," said Nazomi.  
  
"Then... then Vegeta's with what-whatever that *thing* is! Oh Kami, what if he's hurt?" cried Bulma, apparently going into histerics. "Oh, Kami, what if.. what if he's...de..." she couldn't even say the word.  
  
"Bulma, you don't even know if he's in any danger at all," said Juuhachigou, slightly annoyed by Bulma's sudden panic. "If whatever this is is saiyajin, than you don't have to worry, they wouldn't hurt their 'prince'..." she said, making the flying quote marks with her fingers.  
  
Bulma was beginning to calm down, but then Juuhachigou added, "But it's the possibility that they're *not* saiyajin that you have to worry about... whatever this thing is knew that they could make contact with him by doing that diversion thing, so they obviously had some type of 'buisness' to take care of with him."  
  
"Yeah, Juu-Juu Bee!" said Nazomi. "Great job on the... detective... work..."   
  
But she stopped when she saw the look on Bulma's face; she was staring at Juuhachigou, wide-eyed.  
  
"What? I was only saying that it was a possibility..." said Juuhachigou.  
  
"Uh... why don't we try going back east and see if we can find out where Vegeta and the other.. thing are?" said Pan, trying to ease the unbearable tension.  
  
"...Yeah! Great idea, alright." People began babbling okays and prepared to find Vegeta, wherever he may have been.  
  
"You guys'll probably have to stay here," said Goku.  
  
"Oh no, I'm going with you guys," said Bulma fiercely. "I want to find Vegeta as much as you do."  
  
"But it could be dangerous," said Gohan. "It wouldn't help if you got hurt, too-"  
  
"I DON'T CARE!" she cried.   
  
"Fine... Bulma, I'll take you," said Yamucha.  
  
"THANK YOU! *Finally* someone agrees with me," said Bulma, walking over to Yamucha to stand beside him.  
  
"He doesn't agree with you, he's just afraid of you," everyone heard a voice say.  
  
They turned to see Nazomi, leaning on the car with her arms crossed, looking up at the stars.  
  
She felt them watching her and turned to them, feeling nervous.  
  
"What?" she asked, before realization dawned on her. "Oh, did I say that out loud?" she asked, her hands over her mouth.  
  
Some of them laughed, but soon the matter at hand forced them to start thinking about finding Vegeta.  
  
"Okay... we can split up going east, and probe around for Vegeta's ki or the ki of that... person," began Goku. "But remember to keep your own ki really low. We don't want to give the person a warning..."  
  
The others nodded, and Goku turned to the others.  
  
"Bra and Nazomi, if anything shows up here, drop us a line, okay?" he said, looking at both of them.  
  
They both nodded.  
  
"You guys ready?" asked Goku, looking around anxiously.   
  
The rest of them nodded. Yamcha picked up Bulma, and they were off.  
  
"So... what do we do now?" asked Bra after a moment, already bored.   
  
"Oooh! Oooh! We can tell scary stories," said Nazomi. "Hey, a bunch of girls in the middle of no where in the middle of the night? Eh? Eh?" she said, elbowing Bra playfully with each 'eh'.   
  
Bra laughed and said, "Alright. Marron, you coming with us?" she asked as she and Nazomi got out of the car.  
"Sure."  
  
"Wait a minute... I'm just gonna leave the headlights on," said Nazomi before she got out of the car. "Just so we don't get lost when we come out of the woods..."  
  
"But why don't you just find your Chi-Chi or Videl or your mother's ki?" said Marron. "That would be easier..."  
  
"But if I raise my ki the guys'll think that I'm trying to signal them... Mommy? We'll be back in a little while," shouted Nazomi to her mother after she'd set the headlights to high-beams. She'd even left some music on, just slightly loud - with her and Bra's sensitive hearing, that would be another way of finding the car."But..." she suddenly glanced over at where her mother, Chi-Chi, and Videl were sitting.   
  
"What's wrong?" asked Marron.  
  
"Well... we were supposed to stay here incase anyone or anything showed up," she said, looking worried. "But... what if something showed up and my mom was still here? I mean... I'd feel so guilty if she got hurt..."  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Bra. "...So... what, are we bailing?"  
  
"...No, I have an idea," said Nazomi. She suddenly leaped into the air and landed a few hundred feet from where she'd been standing.   
  
She took a few deep breaths, her arms at her sides, and began to power up immensely.   
  
Mercy, Chi-Ch, and Videl, thinking something was wrong, stood up on a flat boulder that was nearby and watched Nazomi intently.  
  
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and then they were plunged into darkness again.  
  
No one could see what was goin on, that is until Nazomi jogged back over to the car. They noticed that she looked a bit different...  
  
That was the thing with Nazomi's split-forms - since she was half-human, half of her came out looking more human and the other part of her came out looking more Nemekian.   
  
The Nazomi that was jogging over to them was the more Nemekian one - her skin was a slightly darker shade of green, her hair was a lot shorter and had turned and had gotten darker, her eyes were also now black instead of orange, her fangs were sharper, her white, long, claw-like nails were longer, Her lips had turned black, despite the purple lipstick she had been wearing, and since she had been wearing a tight, gray tank-top, they could see that she'd become a bit more muscular.   
  
A few seconds later, the more human Nazomi came over - this one had the same maroon-purple hair color, here eyes were still that insanely bright orange color, her lips had seemed to keep the purple lipstick shade, she didn't seem to have fangs, her "claws" had turned simply into long nails, and she didn't appear to be as muscular as the other Nazomi. And instead of green, her skin was a dark, tan color, giving her a latin look.  
  
They were even dressed in an opposite manner - the Nemek had a tight, black tank-top on, and the human one had a white tank-top; when Nazomi had been 'whole', so to speak, she'd been wearing a gray tank-top. But both of them were wearing black flare jeans, along with the bright blue sneakers and the bright blue fleece sweaters tied around their waists.   
  
They both arrived at the car, panting slightly; the split form had taken a bit of energy out of them... er, *her*.  
  
"Oh fuck-" swore the Nemekian Nazomi. "The others are gonna think that we were trying to get a hold of them..." she immediately closed her eyes and seemed to go into a trance as the human one walked over to the group and leaned against the hood of the large car with her elbows.  
  
"What eez she doeeng?" asked Mercy.   
  
"She's telling everyone else that it was a false alarm," said the Human Nazomi as she tucked a few strands of purple hair behind her ear.   
  
"Alright. They were kinda bitchy about it, but at least now they all know that it was bogus," said the Nemekian Nazomi when she finished 'speaking' to everyone.  
  
Some more attributes of the N. Nazomi - for one, she looked more scary, more dangerous, and tough. Her voice was also a lot deeper, and she seemed to have all of Nazomi's worst qualities, such as slight impatience and a dirty mouth.  
  
"Okay. You stay here and protect mom and the others, and I'll go with them," said the Nemek.  
  
The human nodded and hopped up on the side of the hood, her feet resting on the rugged tire and her elbows resting on her knees.  
  
This one was the submissive one.   
  
"Where are you goeeng?" asked Mercy as the Nemekian Nazomi, Bra, and Marron began to walk away.  
  
"Uh... just a little bit into the forest there," said Nazomi, pointing to the mass of trees that was a few kilometers from where they were; she'd decided to go over there because it looked eerie and extremely dark, as if the trees where just a structure of pitch blackness, imprinted against the navy-blue mountains about a mile behind them.  
  
"Alright, sweet-'eart," shouted Mercy. "Please do not get 'urt..."  
  
"I won't!" shouted Nazomi, waving to her mother.  
  
"You girls better not go too far, okay?" yelled Videl.  
  
"Be careful!" shouted Chi-Chi.  
  
They all nodded, shouted that they'd be bcak soon, and continued walking towards the forest.  
  
"Hey, don't get yourself messed up or I'll pay for it too!" cried the human Nazomi.  
  
"Shut up," yelled the Nemek jokingly. "Same to you!"  
  
The girls walked in silence for a while, headed toward the terrifying forest.  
  
"Don't you think it's weird," asked Marron, her head tipped to the side, "that this thing was so strong, yet it was almost... hiding from us?"  
  
"Yeah," agreed Bra and Nazomi.   
  
"That's true," said Nazomi. "...But you know what I find weirder? Goku tends to be such an idiot sometimes, I mean no disrespect or anything, but when it comes to saving someone or fighting something evil, he pulls an Einstein of battle and strategy on us..."  
  
Marron and Bra nodded in agreement.  
  
They walked in silence for a while before they began to speak again.  
  
"This is like one of those horror movies," said Marron, shivering slightly.   
  
"How so?" asked Nazomi, still looking ahead.  
  
"Well... it's like you said earlier. A bunch of teenage girls, in the middle of no where, in the middle of the night..."  
  
"Actually it's only about nine-thirty," said Nazomi, looking at her watch, which was now glowing due to the darkness.  
  
"Wow... it's so dark out here.. it seems more like midnight..." said Bra, looking around anxiously.   
  
"And that's the beauty of it all, folks," said Nazomi, and they could tell that she was grinning even though they couldn't see her very clearly; the occasional moonlight caused her barred fangs (which were now longer and sharper) to glint.  
  
"Oooh.... don't do that, Nazomi," begged Bra.   
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Anything that involves your teeth showing... your fangs are freaking me out. They kinda remind of that old movie... what was it...? 'American Werewolf in Paris'..." Bra shuddered suddenly.   
  
"I will take that as the compliment that I *know* it was meant to be," said Nazomi haughtily.   
  
Marron laughed, along with Bra. "So... what type of stories are we going to tell?" she asked. "Stupid scary, kinda scary, scary-scary or *really* scary?"   
  
They all looked at eachother and said in unison, "*Really*-scary!"  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
* ^_^ ... 0_0 ... _ ... O_o ... !_! ... ~_~ ... ';'... =0) ... =0( ... :) ... :( ... =P ... ;) ... ^_^ ... 0_0 ... _ ... ^_^ ... 0_0 ... _ ... O_o ... !_! ... ~_~ ... ';'... =0) ... =0( ... :) ... :( ... =P ... ;)..._...=P  
  
Sorry this took so long! So how do u like this chapter so far? I know I kept everyone waiting too long... I apologize. I also wanna warn people that this fic is going to begin following the Sonic Adventure storyline after a little while. I wanted to put that in the summary, but there wasn't enough room... BUT WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!! I know that some of you are saying "Aw, man, this sux!" or something and you're getting ready to leave - but lemme just say this - that's only one part of the story. There is A LOOOOOT more going on besides that, so even if you know how some of the things are going to turn out, it'll still be good to read... so if you have the game, I hope u'll find this kinda fun to read. Why do u think that i called it "The Legends of Chaos"? You know what Chaos is, right, I mean in the sense of the game? If you don't know what Chaos means here, I won't ruin it for u. I just thought it would be kewl to do a partial parody, so bear with me... please...  
  
Oh - and some people are concerned about Clarice interfering in Bulma and Vegeta's relationship - I just want to ensure you that she won't.   
  
I mean not really, anyway.  
  
And also, Komadori called to my attention that Vegeta knew about the planet being destroyed since he was six years old - I just wanna say that this is one of the A/U factors.... in this story, he was in his early twenties when he left Vegita-sei. You'll see why later.  
  
And one more thing - I know that some people may have found the T/M thing in this chapter weird, but the story starts out T/M and goes to T/P a loooong time from now... I really like T/P, but the T/M part is just so that everyone is happy.   
  
I'll try to get the next chappy out soon. I already have part of it done... and I hope u'll keep reading! What's going to happen in chappy 2? Will they find Vegeta? Will Vegeta agree to go back with Clarice? What will Bulma and the others have to say about it? What's going to happen if Vegeta decides that he wants to go back? Will the girls get around to telling their stories? Will they get attacked by American guys that decided to take a trip to Paris and accidently got bitten and turned into werewolves the size of bears? Find out on the next episode of -   
  
Dragon Ball Z: The Legends of Chaos  
  
  
  
  
PWWWWEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASE Review? *Makes puppy dog face*  



	3. Informatory Chapter

PLEASE READ THROUGH AND SUBMIT YOUR VOTE AT THE END: VERY IMPORTANT!!!   
  
  
  
  
  
Hey, guys? Miss me? I didn't think so. Well, I'm sorry, but this isn't really a chapter, but it's to kinda help people understand the story better. A lot of people are asking questions about the story, and I just wanted to answer them and get them out of the way so that readers won't have to wait until the next chapter to find everything out. This also explains a lot about what is going to happen in the story, but it's not a dead giveaway.   
  
So here we go with the question answering.  
  
1) Um... no, Goku *cannot* beat up Clarice. Not by a long-shot. Very good question, though, because Goku *is* really strong... but Clarice is A LOT stronger. *YEAH!!! GIRL POWER!!!* And for all y'all haters, let me just say that there is a reason she's so strong, so don't be mad because he's weaker... it'll be later in the story.  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
2) I got one review where someone hated Clarice and wished that Bulma would do something bad to Clarice... But I have a question for u: What *can* Bulma do to Clarice? She can't even hurt Yamucha, and he's human. What would she do to an elite saiyan who's like a billion times stronger than the rest of them...?... But... I can understand where you're coming from. You guys are probably afraid that Clarice will interfere with the whole B/V thing, right? Well, she won't... not exactly... Well, I can't really say anything else or it'll ruin the story. But generally, she really won't. I actually think that most people will like her! Honestly. I mean, I do. She's like a cross of Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Xena (The Warrior Princess), Chyna (The ninth wonder of the world... the wrestler... look her up if u don't watch WWF) and a bunch of other people I need to think up. ^_^ Really, she's not that bad.  
  
2b) "But what about the kiss?" you ask? That was just a good-bye thing. If you found a lost lover after about three decades to discover that they've found someone else and got married and have kids, I think you'd want at *least* a goodbye kiss, too. Like Clarice said, "Just for old times sake..." And besides, when she let him decide whether he wanted to go back or not, she was doing a pretty good thing for him. She deserved that much.  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
3) Okay... to tell you the truth, I really like T/P. I mean... T/M is.... ::squirm::.... uh.... ::fidget:: alright, I guess ::shudder:: but I really prefer Pan to be with him. I have nothing against Marron, don't get me wrong, she's alright (except she's the direct opposite of me, personality and appearence wise), I don't have any problem with her...  
  
But if she's with Trunks, that's when I have a problem.  
  
The reason I'm even going to include T/M in the story is:  
  
*1) So that I'll get more readers - if I include both sides, then people won't get all prejudiced and stop reading the story because they hate one girl or another.   
  
*2) Because it'll kinda.. be involved in the T/P thing. It'll have sort of an effect on it.  
  
*3) Something really funny is gonna happen on... u guess... while T/M are dating.  
  
*4) The T/P thing can't be all that soon... this is because I think it'll be too complicated to do the SA, make all the Vejitasei stuff happen *u'll hear about that later*, and the thing on earth happen all at the same time and plus have to involve the whole romance thing... so it'll be near the end probably, depending on how I fell about it and if I'm not over-loaded with other parts ot the story. But I already know when G/B are gonna be together, and it'll be a lot sooner.  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
4) I hate that I_Love_Rainbows_But_Not_You person!! Whoever you are, your stories suck and you can go to hell if you want. Oh sorry, I forgot, you're the ring-leader there...  
  
4b) I'm sorry, folks... that was really OOC of me *Out of Character* but I really hate it when idiots like that just go and flame people for no good reason. I mean It's stupid, really, because people work hard on writing these stories and then you go and make them feel bad about it, like it's worthless or something... like all their work is crap. But since all me and K-chan's other reviews were good... that just proves my point that that... *thing* was wrong, didn't it? ^_^ As long as it's constructive critism, like if someone points out something wrong or if there's something they don't like about it, I'll understand. But this person just lashes out at people who don't deserve it.  
  
4c) P.S., you homo, when did I say that my nick-name was 'kitty'? Can someone please tell me when I said that?  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Okay... now that I have that out of my system...  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
5) Sorry, guys, I've babbled enough. Now for the important stuff. Um... what else was there... About the Sonic Adventure thing... This will be like a partial parody of the game. It'll be really great, I swear... and I know that some people think that I'm stealing other people's work, but I just wanted to say that I'll give Sonic Team their props for the storyline. It's a really great one... the reason that I decided to do this is because I really like the game and DBZ, so why not bring the two things together as one? And then, besides all the SA stuff happening, there'll be... lemme see... 1...2...3...4... yeah, about four things going on in the "background".  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
6) Also - since this will be going through the Sonic Adventure thing - I've decided to replace the characters! It's really cool. Like... Dr. Robotnik = Dr. Gero! Isn't that wild? ^________^ And the E-100 series of gunner robots that Dr. Robotnik built will be transformed to the E-100 series Androids built by Dr. Gero!! *^_____________________^*  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
I'd write out the game booklet's description of the characters if I could and then tell you what DBZ character they'd be replaced by... but that would kinda mess it up for everyone. But here's a hint: Some of the SA characters will be played by more than one DBZ character. Like... everyone knows that Tails is a mechanic genius, right? So that's an automatic Bulma, you'd think. But his part will actually be played by Bulma, Chi-Chi, and a little bit of Yamucha. That's all I'll say 4 now.  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
But now, *I* have some questions for *u*!!! These questions will actually help me to write the story better, because I'll know what you guys want.  
  
Now... the way that I'll do this is to take ten votes for each question (I'm a Democrat) and majority wins. But I just wanna say that you can only vote once for one question.. give everyone else a chance, will ya? ^_^  
  
1) Should I drop the T/M thing?  
  
2) Should I put up more explainatory "chapters" like this to help people better understand the story?   
  
3) Should I put more Japanese in the story? *Remeber, I'll always translate it, especially if it's a long sentance.*  
  
4) Should the new characters be included in the story much?   
  
5) Now this is something that I wanna do, but some people may not like it that much: Do you think that I should put up the character theme songs from the Sonic Adventure soundtrack? I'm telling you, this soundtrack kicks some serious ass... I'll put the lyrics up if people vote yes.  
  
6) Will someone *PLEASE* tell me how to put these files in HTML format? I've tried to, but the thing keeps showing these weird symbols and the order of the words gets all screwed up... if u can help me, please e-mail me!  
  
7) Should I make the story as descriptive as it is or should I be more... general about it? I like to describe stuff a lot so that people can visualize what I'm talking about better. It's easier for the reader that way, but If most people are annoyed by it then I'll stop.  
  
Well, I guess that's all for now. And I just wanna say that u should REALLY give K-chan credit. The story wouldn't be half as good as it is and will be without her. You go, girl.  
  
Also... damn, what was I gonna say... oh yeah, I just wanna warn people that there will probably be more questions like this as the story progresses. Just sayin' is all...  
  
* PLEAZE ignore that Hershey chic... she's just a crazy girl that *USED TO BE* a "friend" of mine...  
** Presea, where's the last chapter of "We're Just Roommates"? (Great fic guyz, check it out)  
*** Emerald, where's the next chapter of "Breath Away"? (Another great fic)  
****I just wanna give a big ol' shout to to Amy, A.K.A. Amythyst, and I just wanna say that I'm sorry, chic... u know what it's about... !_!   
***** Lady Zero, where's the next chapter of "Revenge is Sweet"? (This one is kinda sad, but okay)  
******Felidae, where's the next chapter of "There Is No Moon Tonight"?  
  
Please review either with a comment on the story or a vote for one of the questions, PLEASE! Thanx.   
  
  
  



	4. My Apology

Hey, guys! I just wanna say that I'm sorry for making you wait so long and that I was on punishment and couldn't use the computer so.... sorry! I'll have the next one out soon, I promise. But I have a lot going on, so I just want to apologize in advance for anymore.... waiting that I make you guys do... 0_o... is that even correct english?  
  
P.S. This is an update: I just feel like beating the crap out of my brother!! You won't believe what he did... he erased ALL of my pictures from the computer, then claims that he didn't do it! I just hate him so much right now... and it just so happens that chapter 2 was held under a picture document, i dunno why, so it got erased, too. I just have to re-write the whole thing *dammit* and I'll post it up ASAP. Sorry again!! 


	5. Chapter Two: Undecided

Hey!!! Well, here's the chapter that I had to type over... it really sux though, because it isn't worded the same way as the original one, and I forgot a few of the things that I wrote... so I'm sorry...  
  
Plus, there may be a couple of things that you remember from a couple of movies, so look out! *^___^*  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 2: Undecided  
  
  
Vegeta woke with a start. He felt strange. What was going on? Why did he feel so dizzy?   
  
'What happened?'  
  
He looked around, noticing that he was in his bedroom. He looked beside him and realized that he was alone.  
  
'Where's Bulma?'  
  
He swung his legs off the side of the bed and suddenly felt his head throbbing painfully. He looked around the room and found that his vision was slightly blurred. Shaking his head and immediately regretting it, he got up.  
  
For a moment he felt as if he were swaying around, though he was standing still. He looked out the window and suddenly realized that it was still the middle of the night, the stars twinkling innocently in the dark sky. He made his way carefully out of the room, then down the stairs to the kitchen.   
  
The kitchen was completely dark except for a few rays of light, cast by the light of the stars through the curtains of the windows. Vegeta walked over to the fridge and opened the freezer, getting an ice-pack and placing it against his head.  
  
Immediately feeling better, Vegeta was about to head back upstairs when he saw something move in the living room. It wasn't a burglar, burglars weren't that fast; indeed, even as fast as he was, everytime he was about to get a good look at it, it would blur and disappear.  
  
He felt around for a ki trace, and by the time he felt where it was, it was right behind him.  
  
Pale, delicate hands, covered his eyes, and he felt a soft body press against his.  
  
"Guess who," purred her deep voice.  
  
Vegeta spun around and saw Clarice standing there, a small smile one her face, her hands behind her back.  
  
"What happened?" he asked, his teeth barred in pain.  
  
"Oooh... you don't remember?" asked Clarice suddenly looking worried. She guided him to a chair at the table and leaned against the counter, still watching him.  
  
"Well," she began, "Your 'family' is gone now. They were causing too many problems and they wouldn't let you go back to Vejitasei. And, unfortunately, while I was disposing of those vermin, you were caught in the blast..."  
  
Noticing that he was still holding his head, Clarice walked over to him and kneeled in front of him, putting her handson the sides of his face.  
  
Her hands lit up for a few moments and a warm sensation began coursing through him. Why haden't he thought of that before? When she removed her hands, he opened his eyes and his vision wasn't blurred anymore.  
  
Clarice smiled and stood up. She grabbed his hand and pulled gently, silently beckoning him to stand. He did, though quite reluctantly, and she immediately threw her arms around his neck.  
  
"It's lucky that I got rid of them," she purred, looking him right in the eye. "Now, we can go back to Vejitasei together, you can continue your rein as prince, we can continue being together..."  
  
She kissed him passionately, and after a moment of hesitation, Vegeta kissed her back fiercely. Smirking through the kiss, Clarice suddenly shoved Vegeta down onto the table and crawled on top of him, straddling his waist.  
  
She began to kiss his neck and moved downward, leaving a trail of hot kisses on his body. She was about to move down to his stomach when she sat up, suddenly looking fearful of something.   
  
"What's wrong?" asked Vegeta, looking up at her beautiful face, which was now stained with dread.  
  
Clarice looked down at him, her eyes full of terror.   
  
"I think she's starting to suspect something," said Clarice, even more fear in her eyes.  
  
Vegeta was even more confused now.  
  
"Who?" he asked.  
  
Clarice suddenly had a sinister smile on her face. She leaned down over him, her face moving through a patch of darkness.  
  
Vegeta recognized the blue hair and eyes immediately.  
  
"Your wife," said Bulma.  
  
  
~*~*~END DREAM~*~*~  
  
Vegeta sat bolt upright, covered in cold sweat. He looked around the room, then looked beside him. There was Bulma, sleeping peacefully. She wasn't dead.   
  
He sighed with relief, then cursed. 'Damn that Nazomi,' he thought. It was her fault he had that dream. 'Correction, nightmare.'  
  
It actually *was* her fault - she'd made him take her to see 'Scary Movie 2' for the umpteenth time ("It'll make you feel better!" she'd said).   
  
Sighing, he relaxed and laid back down. He smiled at the peaceful expression on Bulma's face, then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close to him as he could, resting his chin on her head. Still asleep, she snuggled closer to him and rested her cheek on his neck.   
  
Vegeta smiled, glad that she was still with him, and he too fell into slumber.  
  
  
* (+= * =+) * (+= * =+) * NEXT DAY * (+= * =+) * (+= * =+) *  
  
  
Vegeta blinked and groaned; the sunlight that was piercing through the white curtains had hurt his eyes. It was morning.  
  
He suddenly whipped his head around to see that Bulma was missing. He wsa about to panick when the smell of food drowned his nostrils. He heard her heard her speaking to someone in the kitchen.  
  
He sighed deeply, immeasurable relief taking place of his panick. He dressed quickly in a gray t-shirt and khaki pants and made his way down to the kitchen.   
  
He walked into the room to see Bulma making breakfast as Bra sat at the table, a magazine before her.  
  
"Hey, Princess," he said, walking over to where Bra was sitting and looking at the magazine. "What're you reading about?"  
  
Bra gaped at him, completely confused. Sighing and giving him one last confused look, Bra looked back down at the CosmoGirl magazine.  
  
"It's about permanent makeup," she explained. "It's like tattoos on your face, except it's supposed to look like makeup that just stays on forever. People get it for their lips, eyes, cheeks..."  
  
"I honestly don't know why someone would do that to their face," said Bulma, flipping a pancake. "That's horrible."  
  
"No it's not," countered Bra. "It's a time-saver. If you were going out on a date, you'd never have to worry about your make up getting ruined. All you'd have to worry about is your hair, your nails, your clothes..."  
  
Bulma laughed and shook her head. "I still don't think that it's a good idea," she said.  
  
Bra "hmphed". "I think it's a great idea," she said.  
  
Bulma opened her mouth to retaliate, but instead squealed with surprise as two strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind.  
  
She giggled. "Someone's in a good mood," she said as Vegeta kissed her neck.  
  
"Hey, kid in the room," said Bra loudly, not looking up from her magazine.  
  
Vegeta smiled and let go of Bulma, walking back over to the table and sitting down.   
  
Vegeta was already in deep thoght when he felt someone watching him. He looked up to see Bra gazing at him, biting her lip.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Huh? - Oh, I was just wondering," she said. "...Why are you in such a good mood all the sudden?"  
  
Suddenly Bulma turned from and leaned against the counter, her arms crossed.   
  
"I've been thinking the same thing," she said matter-of-factly.   
  
Bra suddenly looked back and forth from parent to parent, then muttered "Eeeeewwww...." before crossing her arms and paying even more attention to the magazine.  
  
Bulma gave Bra a confused look before looking at Vegeta and raising an eyebrow.  
  
"*Is* that the reason that you've been so happy lately?" she asked, looking surprised.  
  
"...Partially," said Vegeta.  
  
Bulma pouted playfully and turned back to the food.  
  
Bra turned to the 'Celebrities' section of the magazine and sucked her teeth loudly when she saw a full-page picture of Trunks, grinning broadly with the title "Luscious Lavender" next to it. She turned the pages and saw the that the article went for a full three pages before ending.   
  
"Is something wrong?" asked Bulma.  
  
"No," said Bra, ripping the pages out of the magazine and crumpling them up. "Well... I gotta go and get ready. Me and Marron are going to the mall, and I promised I'd pick her up - plus, I saw the cutest pink sequin tube-top..." said Bra, getting up and heading up the stairs.   
  
Bulma half-laughed and half-sighed, then got some plates to set the table with. She turned to get some more dishes and jumped about a foot into the air when she saw Vegeta standing in front of her.  
  
"I told you not to do that," she said, a small smile on her face as she clutched her chest, trying to catch her breath.   
  
"I wanted to help," he said, looking sorry.  
  
"Giving me a heart-attack isn't going to help me very much," she said, playfully punching him in the ribs. She walked over to the cabinet and handed some more dishes to him, which he set at the table.  
  
"So tell me... what *have* you been so happy about lately?" she asked, handing him a few more dishes.   
  
Vegeta set the dishes at their place on the table and suddenly looked extremely grave.   
  
"...You'll find out soon enough," he sighed before walking out of the room and heading up the stairs, as if to avoid further enquiry.   
  
Bulma stood where she was for a moment, surprised by his sudden retreat. 'I wonder what's wrong with him,' she thought.  
  
It had all started about two weeks before - Vegeta'd started acting strangely nice to everyone. He wasn't much nicer in the beginning, but as the time went by, his "kindness" was becoming more and more noticeable. Even the other day, after sparring with Goku, Vegeta'd congratulated Goku on his skill and said that he'd done a good job.   
  
Goku, even more confused than he already was, thought that maybe he'd hit hi on the head one to many times a bit too hard.   
  
'You have to be patient,' thought Bulma. 'He said that he'd tell you sooner or later. ...And even if he doesn't,' she tought, this time a mischievous smirk growing across her face, 'I'll get it out of him some how...'   
  
*---*---*---*---*---*---*  
  
Vegeta paced around the bedroom, panicking. What was he going to do? Clarice said about a week or two, and today was the second week from the day she'd arrived on earth. His time was almost up.  
  
No matter how much he'd tried, he couldn't bring himself to come to a final decision. He was desperate. He was willing to do anything to come to a decision, but no matter what he did... he would always end up changing his mind back and forth from Earth to Vejitasei, from 'Family Man' to the Prince of Saiyajins, from husband to ruler of a planet, from being constantly disrespected by people weaker than him to being feared and respected by people stronger than he was...  
  
He sighed with frustration and distress. There was no way he was going to make the decision by that night.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
*-T-*-H-*-E-*---*-L-*-E-*-G-*-E-*-N-*-D-*-S-*---*-O-*-F-*---*-C-*-H-*-A-*-O-*-S-*  
  
Hey! How'd ya like this chapter? I know it sucked... but as I said, it got erased and I had to write it from memory.   
  
And then guess what - I couldn't use the computer for a while because we were moving! Yup, We're moving from Boston, Massachusets to Jacksonville, Florida. My mom packed up the computer, so I couldn't get my hands on it for a while...  
And as many people may know, FF.net has been down for a while...  
  
So what will Vegeta do? Will Bulma ever find out? Will Clarice come back to get his decision?  
  
Find out this and more later on -  
  
The Legends of Chaos!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
P.S. Hey, duz anyone watch Smackdown or Raw Is War? YAAAAY!!! MY man The Rock is back!! And he got a new haircut and his theme song has a new beat and didn't he just look FINE in those leather pants that he was wearing on thursday?! *^____________^* Ohhh, he looks soooo good in leather... I love him to death, I'm glad he's back, and I'm glad that he stuck with the WWF... no offense to ECW and WCW lovers * ';' * but I started watching the WWF first and I'm gonna finish with it, they're my peeps. I just don't really like the others. *But again, if u like the other two, no offense, this is just my opinion.*   
  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
~Valerie~ *  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
And hey, if u like any of the wrestling federations, a review represents the one u like! Please review! *Hehehe, my latest scheme to get more reviews*  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter Three: Out of Time

Chap 3: The Decision  
  
  
Hey, y'all. That's all I have to say.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Bulma yawned, exhausted. She was in Trunks's office, doing left-over paperwork for him ("Mom, I'll make it up to you, I swear!"). She yawned again, beginning to nod off. She felt so stressed out with everything going on in her family... Vegeta was keeping something from her, Bra had been acting strangely ever since she'd gotten home from the mall with Marron, her parents had run off again, and Trunks was running around doing God knows what.   
  
'I wish my parents were here,' thought Bulma. Her parents had gone on a cruise in Majorca without telling anyone, but her mother had called her from the dock and told her that they would be arriving home that weekend. She wished that she could just run off for awhile whenever she wanted to, too... but she had too much to take care of for that type of thing.  
  
'I wish that I could go somewhere far, far away... and forget all about work...' thought Bulma with a sigh.   
  
She got up and stretched, yawning again. She walked around the large desk and over to another table at the other side of the office and poured herself some coffee.  
  
She was about to take a sip when she noticed some pink lip-stick on the side of the glass. She sucked her teeth loudly. 'Trunks has GOT to stop bringing his little 'friends' in here.'  
  
She got another mug and filled it to the brim with coffee. She made sure that there was plenty of sugar in it ('I think I need a sugar rush...') and walked back over to the desk, sipping it and thinking.   
  
Despite everything that was going on, Bulma had one serious thing on her mind: Vegeta. Since that morning, he'd been getting more and more upset. He seemed to be anxious about something, and she wished that he'd tell her something. At least give her a hint.   
  
And worst of all, whatever this was, it was really getting to him. He was looking older and older by the moment, and she even saw a few actual gray hairs. There were lines below his eyes, and she even managed to hurt him, which she thought was impossible. All she'd done was jab him in the side playfully like she always had done, but to her horror, Vegeta had groaned and began rubbing the sore spot on his ribs as he walked away, not saying a word.   
  
He hadn't even eaten breakfast that morning, either. After "helping" her with the dishes and retreating, he was about to go out the door when she inquired him on eating something.   
  
For a few minutes, he'd just stared a her, then grabbed the sides of her face and gave her a long, passionate, searing kiss.  
  
Then he left.  
  
Bulma, bewildered and a bit dizzy, just stood rooted in the exact same spot for about ten minutes.   
  
And he seemed to fear the night. She didn't know why, him being a night person and all, but she found him sitting on the roof, staring at the sun, as though he were afraid of the fact that it would soon meet the horizon and disappear.   
  
She decided that she would have to get him to tell her what was going on. Seeing him under so much stress was killing her, not to mention the fact that he seemed to be completely helpless about it.   
  
She sighed and returned to the paper work, though her mind wasn't far off from her mate. 'Vegeta, why won't you tell me...?'  
  
Just as she was about to begin writing again, the door of the office burst open.   
  
She didn't even look up at him, she was mad at him for playing hookie again.  
  
"Mom, thank so much for doing this, I really appriciate it-" began Trunks, breathing heavily.  
  
"You'd better, Trunks Briefs. I'm not doing this again. You have to learn to take responsibility for this job! You can't just go off doing whatever you want whenever you want-"  
  
"I know, mom, I'm really sorry, but I'll make it up to you..."  
  
Bulma finally stopped writing to look up at him, her eyes full of anger and disappointment.  
  
"Trunks, I don't want you to make it up to me, I want you to start taking this job seriously, you understand?" she asked.  
  
Trunks nodded, looking downward. He could understand how she felt, this was the third time that week that he'd run off. He could tell that she was really upset with him.  
  
Bulma put the pen down and got up.  
  
"Well, I finished all of the financial reports, all you have to do now is the progress report."  
  
Trunks nodded and plopped down into the leather chair.  
  
Bulma grabbed her coat and was about to walk out the door when she stopped.  
  
She turned to Trunks and watched him as he bagan to write rapidly, his pen flying across the paper.  
  
Trunks could feel her eyes on him and looked up at her, expecting her to say something.  
  
When she continued to stare at him, he asked nervously, "Uh... did you want to tell me anything else, mom?"  
  
She nodded. "Promise that you won't keep *serious* secrets from me, okay?"  
  
At first, Trunks looked confused, but the pleading look in her eyes made him answer her.  
  
"...I promise," he said after a moment.  
  
She smiled happily and closed the door as she walked out of the room.  
  
Trunks, completely bewildered by her sudden request, shook his head and went back to work.  
  
  
**************************************************************************************  
  
  
Bulma drove home in her air car, only slightly paying attention to the road ahead of her. 'As soon as I get home, he's telling me what's going on.'  
  
The reason that she was so bent on trying to figure out what his problem was was because of the fact that he'd never seemed to be so helpless or upset before. 'It has to do with that ki, it has to be. That's when he started acting weird.'  
  
She arrived home, still pondering the situation. She looked up at the roof, a sound had caught her attention. She looked up and could see a pair of legs hanging over the side of the roof. She recognized the black jeans and realized that Vegeta had been sitting up there since she'd left.   
  
A look of sadness came over her features as she walked to the door and unlocked it, steping inside. She smelled something very good coming from the direction of the kitchen. Well it wasn't Bra cooking, that was for sure.  
  
Confused and suspicious, she walked cautiously to the kitchen door and peered inside.  
  
"Mom? What are you doing here? I tohught that you were in Majorca," said Bulma when she saw the blonde woman standing and stirring the rice on the stove.  
  
"Yes, but your father got into an argument with someone.." Mrs. Briefs "tsk-tsked" and shook her head. "So how were things while we were gone?"  
  
"Alright... has Vegeta come down since I left?"  
  
"Where did you go?" asked Mrs. Briefs, suddenly realizing that her daughter hadn't been home.  
  
"I had to take over for Trunks," said Bulma exasperatedly.   
  
"Oooohhhh," said Mrs. Briefs, suddenly looking slightly excited about something. "Okay."  
  
Bulma blinked a few times, trying to figure out why her mother was suddenly happy about it.  
  
"So did Vegeta come down?"  
  
"Um... once," said Mrs. Briefs, looking thoughtful. "He asked your father if he knew where that old Scouter thingy was."  
  
That caught Bulma's attention.  
  
"What? Did he say what he needed it for?" she asked frantically. Now she knew that it *definately* had to do with the ki that had been lingering around two weeks before.  
  
"No," said Mrs. Briefs as shee continued to stir the rice. "But he really seemed to want to find it..."  
  
Bulma sulked and walked slowly over to the table, getting more and more agrivated. Why was he doing this to her? She'd told him that he could tell her anything, but he didn't seem to believe her.  
  
"...Mom?" said Bulma quietly, unsure that she should ask her mother about it.   
  
"Yes, sweetie?"  
  
"...Have you ever felt that... that someone close was keeping a secret from you? A really serious one?" she asked quietly.   
  
"Well yes," said Mrs. Briefs. "You."  
  
Bulma laughed. "But this is different," she said, becoming serious again. "I think... I think that Vegeta's hiding something really big from me."  
  
Mrs. Briefs turned around to face Bulma, looking confused. "Well have you tried asking him about it?" she asked.  
  
"Well, I want to, but I... I dunno, I just feel that if he wanted me to know then he would've told me already. If he wants to keep it to himself... maybe I should respect that..."  
  
Mrs. Briefs snorted. "Yeah, right," she laughed. "Marriage is a two way thing - if something is affecting him this much, he should know to tell you about it, because maybe it'll affect the whole family. If he doesn't love you or trust you enough to tell you about it, then he can just-"  
  
Mrs. Briefs stopped when she realized that Bulma was staring at her, her eyes wide with shock.  
  
"Uh... ::ahem:: What I ment to say, sweetie, is that you should talk it out with him-"  
  
"Where the hell did *that* come from?" interrupted Bulma before she could stop herself.  
  
"Oh, well... your father and I had an argument in Majorca... don't ask," she added.  
  
Bulma laughed. "So... you think that I should make him tell me about it?"  
  
"Well that's your decision, dear," said Mrs. Briefs as she checked on the chicken. "If you think that you should know about it, ask him. But if you feel that he has a right to keep something to himself for once, then don't ask him. Let him deal with whatever it is himself."  
  
"Wow, that was a lot of help," said Bulma sarcastically. "I want to know, but I can't keep prying into his buisness like this everytime I suspect something..."  
  
"Well... I can't make the decision for you. That decision is ultimately between you and your conscience... so I'd say that you should think about it."  
  
"Yeah... thanks, mom," said Bulma as she picked up her purse and headed up the stairs to her room.  
  
'I just hope that Vegeta comes to me about this before I have to go to him...'  
  
She opened the door to the bedroom, and turned on the light. She almost screamed when she saw the black-clothed firgure standing in front of the window, but recognized the spiky hair and calmed down.   
  
Not knowing how he would react to her being in the room, she walked quietly over to the bed and set her purse down, keeping an eye on him the whole time. Even though Vegeta wasn't doing anything, Bulma was becomming more and more anxious. He was being eerily still; he didn't even appear to be blinking or breathing.   
  
Deciding to take a chance, she walked up behind him slowly and silently, hoping that he wouldn't blow her head off.  
  
She lifted a hand, hesitated, then put it on his shoulder gently.  
  
"...Vegeta, are you alright?" she asked quietly.  
  
Vegeta jumped when he heard Bulma's voice, he didn't even realize she was in the room.   
  
"Oh, uh... I'm fine," he said before looking out the window again.  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Bulma. "You've been acting pretty strange lately..."  
  
"I'm sure," he said, his voice bordering a whisper.   
  
Bulma sighed and walked over to the other side of the room, giving up hope that Vegeta would ever come out with it and tell her what was going on.  
  
She cast one last hopeless look at him before entering the bathroom to take a quick shower before going to bed.  
  
Vegeta looked down. He sighed and looked at his watch, wanting to cry when he saw what time it was.   
  
'Eleven-fifty-nine...' he thought sadly. 'Time's up.'  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
So what's going to happen? Time is up! Will Clarice come to him to get an answer? Will she drag gim back? Will Bulma ever find out about what's going on? Will Clarice really kill everyone like in Vegeta's nightmare?   
  
Find out on the next episode of-  
  
Dragon Ball Z: The Legends of Chaos   
  
~Valerie G.  
  
P.S. On the Informatory chapter thing, guess what! I only got TWO voters, people! TWO VOTERS!! Does anyone else care about what goes on in the story? If you do, please vote! PLEASE! Here are the results:  
  
(If I don't get anymore votes before the end of next week, I'm going to go along with these two and make my own decision about what happens on the half/half ones!)  
  
Question One: Should I drop the T/M thing:  
Votes: Both votes are YES  
  
Question Two: Should I put up more explainatory "chapters" like this to help people better understand the story?   
Votes: One vote YES, one vote NO  
  
Question Three: Should I put more Japanese in the story? *Remeber, I'll always translate it, especially if it's a long sentance.*  
Votes: Both votes are YES  
  
Question Four: Should the new characters be included in the story much?   
Votes: I think both were YES...  
  
Question Five: Now this is something that I wanna do, but some people may not like it that much: Do you think that I should put up the character theme songs from the Sonic Adventure soundtrack? I'm telling you, this soundtrack kicks some serious ass... I'll put the lyrics up if people vote yes.  
Votes: One vote YES, One vote NO  
  
Question Six: Will someone *PLEASE* tell me how to put these files in HTML format? I've tried to, but the thing keeps showing these weird symbols and the order of the words gets all screwed up... if u can help me, please e-mail me!  
Votes: Neither knew how  
  
Question Seven: Should I make the story as descriptive as it is or should I be more... general about it? I like to describe stuff a lot so that people can visualize what I'm talking about better. It's easier for the reader that way, but If most people are annoyed by it then I'll stop.  
Votes: Both votes were YES  
  
  
So pleez keep voting! I need to know what to do, people!  
  
~Valerie  
  



	7. Chapter Four: Discovery

Whattup.  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Four: Discovery  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.  
  
  
Bulma sighed as she climbed into bed. Vegeta was peering out the window as if he was expecting something. He looked even more worried now.  
  
"...Vegeta, maybe you'd better come and lie down," said Bulma in a very worried tone.   
  
Vegeta looked down and nodded, closing his eyes. He sighed, then began to get undressed. Once he was in his boxers, he climbed into the bed and laid down on his back, staring up at the ceiling.  
  
Bulma smiled and hugged him gently, glad that he was finally relaxing.  
  
"...Vegeta, if something's bothering you, you can tell me," said Bulma in a gentle voice, her hand stroking his arm softly.  
  
"...No, everything is going to be alright... everything is going to be just fine..." said Vegeta as though he were in a trance, turning away from her and lying down on his side.   
  
Bulma, extremely alarmed by his strange answer, decided that she'd let him get some rest (both physically and mentally) before asking him again.  
  
Though she tried, Bulma couldn't fall asleep. Vegeta's strange anxiety was getting to her too, and she couldn't get her mind off of it.   
  
She sighed, wishing that Vegeta wasn't so secretive and would tell her what his problem was.   
  
She sighed again, still wide awake. She lay there, staring at the wall across the room, and if she weren't thinking so hard she would have noticed that the absence of Vegeta's usual snores meant that she wasn't the only one still awake.   
  
  
  
~*~*~NEXT DAY~*~*~  
  
Bra groaned as her alarm clock went off. She turned over and put the pillow on her head, trying to drown out the annoying sound. 'Why did mom ever build that thing?' she thought bitterly.  
  
The alarm clock was a new model built by her mother, made especially for Trunks, who always had a problem getting up for work. Bra wasn't surprised, him bringing girls home every other night, it wasn't a really big shock that he didn't get much sleep.   
  
She wished that she could turn it off, but she couldn't - that was the special thing about it - it had to be de-activated by a special password that only Bulma knew. She'd even made them ki-resistant, ever since Trunks and Vegeta blew up the first two models.  
  
Not even bothering to get up, Bra picked up the clock and threw it out the open window next to her bed.  
  
She turned over and was about to fall back asleep when she heard a thud. She turned over to look at the floor where she heard the sound and almost cried.  
  
The alarm clock was back.  
  
Sucking her teeth, she got up and picked up the small, blue clock. She walked over to the window, raised the clock high above her head, and -   
  
"Pan? what the hell are you doing here?" she shouted, looking down at the twenty-year-old.. "It's eleven o'clock in the morning! Don't you know that I'm not up yet?"  
  
Pan, who was looking up at the window, laughed.  
  
"Actually, it's twelve," said Pan. "And you *should* be up! Remember, we have 'plans' to finish up. And besides, I don't think that your mom would appreciate you throwing her clock out the window like that-"  
  
"Oh, cram it," yawned Bra, just realizing that the clock was still ringing. "I'll be ready in a minute. I think Grandma's downstairs, she'll let you in."  
  
"Alright."  
  
Bra yawned again and walked into the bathroom, the clock still in her hand. She filled the sink up with water and dropped the clock into it, dulling the sound greatly.  
  
She sighed with relief and took off the over-sized night-shirt, stepping into the shower.   
  
She didn't know whether it was the pelting beads of water that stung her eyes, or if it was her tears. She couldn't stand it anymore, it was killing her...  
  
As planned, she and Marron had gone to the mall the morning before, Bra still searching for the pink, sequin tube-top. When the cashier had told her that a strange, blonde girl had already bought it, she was heart-broken. Marron, feeling sorry for her, had offered to buy Bra some ice-cream to make it up to her.   
  
But while in the food court, to make matters worse, Marron spotted Goten sitting at a table with a red-head. Knowing about Bra's long-time love for him, she tried to pretend that her wallet was missing and she couldn't pay for the ice-cream. While frantically pushing Bra away from the Brigham's store, unfortunately Bra had turned and saw Goten and "The Bimbo" sitting at the table.  
  
For a moment, she'd been paralyzed, tears streaming down her face, but when Marron tried to calm her down, Bra pulled away from her and took off running.  
  
Marron found Bra in the parking garage, sitting on the ground with her back against the car, sobbing violently.  
  
Bra snapped back to reality, remembering that she was in the shower. She got out and wrapped the dark green bath-robe around her, tying the sash.  
  
She looked down into the sink, where the clock was still ringing, causing the surface of the water to ripple. 'Waterproof,' she thought bitterly. 'Leave it to mom to think of everything...'  
  
Leaving the clock in the sink, she got dressed and headed down the stairs to see Pan sitting at the table, drinking soda. Bra heard a sound, and when she looked out the window, sure enough, there was Mrs. Briefs, watering her plants and humming the tune of "Mary Had A Little Lamb".  
  
Bra smiled and walked over to the table and sat opposite Pan.   
  
"So, are we done yet?" she asked, crossing her arms.  
  
"Um, I think so... did Trunks pick up the cake last night like he was supposed to?" asked Pan, taking a notebook out of her book-bag.  
  
"Yeah. He said that mom yelled at him for leaving work, though," said Bra thoughtfully.   
  
"Well this is going to make up for it," said Pan, checking the word "cake" off of her list.  
  
"Did you guys get the decorations from the mall yesterday?" she asked, looking back up at Bra.  
  
"N-no," said Bra, tears welling up in her eyes at the memory of Goten kissing the girl.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Pan, putting the pen down. "Did something happen yesterday...?"  
  
"No," lied Bra. "I'm fine. I just wish I'd gotten there earlier for that tube-top..."  
  
Pan knew that Bra was serious about fashion, but she knew that Bra wasn't *that* serious about it.  
  
Pan gave Bra one last look and sighed. "Well... I can pick up the balloons, I'll ask Nazomi to get the streamers and stuff... did Marron invite everyone yet?"  
  
"She *better* have," said Bra suddenly. "We can't call everyone today and expect them to come here tonight. They might already have plans."  
  
"Well I'll call her later and make sure then. .. but who exactly *did* she invite, anyway?"  
  
"Oh, probably a bunch of Mom's old business associates," said Bra, looking exasperated.   
  
"Oh," said Pan, looking disappointed. "But... hey, what if she invited the Sukaros? Remember Andrew? Mr. Sukaro's son? He was *really* cute..." sighed Pan dreamily.  
  
"Don't forget Evan," added Bra. "If she didn't invite them, I'll kill her myself."  
  
Pan laughed and crossed "Decorations" off of her list.   
  
"Alright... all we have left is 'Refreshments' and 'Music and Entertainment'," said Pan. "...What the hell? Who put that on the list?" she asked, a look of utter disbelief on her face.  
  
"I think Nazomi did. She said something about wishing Nelly could perform, but I didn't catch what she said," said Bra thoughtfully. "I won't have any problem picking up the refreshments. And... put together, everyone must have like over three or four hundred CDs. We should be able to find *something* that mom would like... do you have a Ricky Martin CD? I think mom likes him..."  
  
"Not-a-one," said Pan. "But I think Marron must have one. She likes him a lot..."  
  
"Alright, that's one. We need a lot more than that," said Bra. "What about Aerosmith? She's crazy about Aerosmith-"  
  
"I have every CD they've ever recorded," said Pan, writing "Aerosmith - Me" below the words "Ricky Martin - Marron".  
  
"Oh my God - guess who else she likes," said Bra, looking shocked.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Kid Rock," said Bra.  
  
"What? I thought she didn't like him," said Pan, looking confused.  
  
"I thought so too until I heard her singing 'Cowboy' in the car," explained Bra. "And she was humming to the tune of 'Fist of Rage' the other day."  
  
"...Alright then," said Pan. "Who has a Kid Rock CD?"  
  
"Nazomi's got to have one."  
  
"Alright," said Pan, scribbling more songs down.   
  
"She likes Ja Rule," said Bra.  
  
"Really?" asked Pan. "I like him too, I just never expected her to..."  
  
"She especially likes the new one with Ja Rule and J-Lo," commented Pan.  
  
"I can't get enough of that one."  
  
"What else is there? Oh, Sting, she likes Sting...."  
  
The two girls continued to drone on, finding different types of music to play at the party. Finally, when they were done, they had a pretty good list:  
  
Ricky Martin - Marron  
Aerosmith - Me  
Kid Rock - Nazomi  
Dido - Bra  
Linkin Park - Goten  
Earth, Wind, and Fire - Piccolo  
No Doubt - Videl  
Faith Hill - Chi-Chi  
Destiny's Child - Nazomi  
Bare Naked Ladies - Goku  
Monica - Me  
Ja Rule - Nazomi  
Jennifer Lopez - Videl  
Sting - Mercy  
Dazz Band - Nazomi  
Smash Mouth - Goku   
Christina Aguilera - Marron  
Mariah Carey - Chi-Chi  
Limp Bizkit - Juuhachigou  
Toni Braxton - Chi-Chi  
Green Day - Trunks  
Uncle Kracker - Marron(?)  
Incubus - Yamucha  
Red Hot Chilly Peppers - Trunks  
Fuel - Juuhachigou  
3 Doors Down - Goten  
  
"Wait a minute," said Pan, looking a few of the Artist's names' over. "A few of these have to go."  
  
"Why?" asked Bra. "We'll have enough time to play them all-"  
  
"It's not that," said Pan, crossing out "Linkin Park". "It's just that if a bunch of Bulma's associates are going to be there, we don't want to play a bunch of music where every word is some type of curse. I mean come on, these people are old," she said, crossing out "Limp Bizkit".   
  
"Yeah, you're right," said Bra. "So.. what about Red Hot Chilly Peppers?"  
  
"We can play part of the CD, but not all of it," said Pan, putting a star next to it. "I don't think that they would like 'Californication' too much."  
  
They continued to fix everything, calling people and checking off various lists, even making sure that Goku hadn't eaten the cake that Trunks had picked up the day before - he'd left it at the Son house so that Bulma wouldn't find it.   
  
"This is going to be great," sighed Bra. Just great..."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Vegeta sighed. His time had been up long before, so had no way of knowing when Clarice would pop up and ask for his decision. And worst of all, he hadn't even made a decision! As much as he thought about it, he couldn't find one thing that would be better than the other. They'd kept in touch as she awaited his answer, but nothing more. He sat up and reached over to the night stand where the phone was. He picked up a pad of paper and pencil which was usually used to take down messages and began to make a list.  
  
STAYING ON EARTH: PROS  
1) Will get to stay with Bulma, Bra, and Trunks  
2) Will get to protect earth from any future threats, if any  
3) Won't have to deal with father  
  
STAYING ON EARTH: CONS  
1) Clarice may be killed  
2) Won't be able to prevent father from attacking earth again  
3) Will miss being Prince  
4) Father may send someone else to look for me  
  
GOING BACK TO VEJITASEI: PROS  
1) Will get to be Prince again  
2) Can prevent more attacks on earth  
3) Clarice may not be killed  
  
GOING BACK TO VEJITASEI: CONS  
1) Will miss everyone  
2) Will have to deal with father again  
3) Bulma, Trunks, and Bra would be left alone  
  
*Hey, I know it's a dumb list, but I wasn't feeling very creative at the moment.*  
  
He sighed. Every decision he made seemed to even out at the same level with it's opposite, making it harder for him. Vegeta looked down at the list and memorized it quickly, then tore it out and destroyed it so that Bulma wouldn't find it. If she did... well, who knew what she'd say about it.  
  
'That's it,' he thought. It was the moment of truth. He had to make his decision now. He would force himself to. This depression was tearing him apart, he couldn't handle it any longer.   
  
He racked his brain, digging deep inside of his mind to find out which one he wanted more. As much as he loved his home planet, he couldn't live without his family... but he did love being Prince and ruling Vejitasei...   
  
His decision was made.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Dryphus sucked her teeth in frustration.  
  
"Do you *have* to do that all the time?" cried the blonde saiyajin, cursing because her bottle of deep blue nail polish fell over and was now spilling all over the control panel.   
  
She was referring to Clarice, who was just doing some light training because she was bored. Her punches, kicks, and sudden shouts of "HA!!" were driving Dryphus insane, who was trying to do her nails. She sat in one of the armchairs before the vast controls, her legs crossed.   
  
"No, actually," said Clarice. Despite her response, she continued to jump and leap, trying to defeat an undefeatable opponent: her own shadow. *And REMEMBER the British accent... I know that some people may find it annoying that I keep reminding u, but the reason that I do is because even *I* forgot about it when I was reading the chapter over. So remember.*   
  
Dryphus had come to visit her because she'd been interested in what Clarice had said about earth; and she was even more interested in the fact that it still even existed.   
  
Clarice had also even told her about Vegeta and her ultimatum - Dryphus didn't agree with it, but Clarice could trust her not to tell anyone. Dryphus was one of her best friends, the other being Mason, and they were always faithful to her.   
  
"Geeze, calm down," said Dryphus, grimacing. "I swear, if you acted anymore masculine, you'd *be* a man."  
  
Clarice looked hurt. "I don't act masculine," she said in a tiny, feeble, whiney voice.   
  
"Well when you're training you are," said Dryphus, correcting herself. "You can't compete with your damn shadow, it moves at the exact same pace as you do. It's like trying to get out of the way of a mirror before your reflection has a chance to move."   
  
Clarice laughed, but sat down in a chair a few feet away from Dryphus's, who was now blowing lightly on her nails, trying to get them to dry quickly.   
  
"View-port, on," said Clarice, the volume in her voice slightly loud. The extremely large screen before them suddenly flickered on, showing the view in front of the ship: a beautiful, exotic jungle, festooned by a breath-taking array of colors during the sunset.   
  
Dryphus, who was putting nail-polish on her other hand, looked up at the vast screen and looked shocked.  
  
"This planet only has one sun?" she cried, looking amazed. "Well God-damn, now I've seen everything. Every other planet that I've been to has at least two. Now all you'd have to say is that they only have one moon, and I'll..."   
  
She looked up at Clarice, who looked back at her and nodded.  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
Dryphus shook her head and contined to coat her nails with the dark liquid.   
  
"Ya know, you said that Vegeta's time would be up last night," said Dryphus thoughtfully. "Shouldn't you go and ask him what he's going to do?"  
  
"No," said Clarice, her voice firm. "If he'd already decided, he would've told me."   
  
"Does he even know where to find you?" asked Dryphus.   
  
"He does," said Clarice, still staring up at the view-port, "Besides, I only moved so that his friends wouldn't come looking for me."  
  
Dryphus "Hmphed". "Just kill them already," she said without looking up.  
  
"I'm not going to kill them," said Clarice, her voice sounding as solid as steel. "I haven't even met any of them yet."  
  
"You *want* to?!" asked Dryphus, sounding appalled.   
  
"Well... actually no," said Clarice, realizing this for the first time. "But there *is* one person that I want to meet above the others."  
  
Dryphus knew who she was talking about immediately.  
  
"You mean his wife? Are you going to hurt her?" cried Dryphus, sounding hopeful.  
  
The older saiyajin scowled. "No," she said, and the tone in her voice said that it was final.   
  
Dryphus rolled her eyes and fell back into the chair, crossing her legs again.   
  
*As you can probably tell about Dryphus's personality, she's a violent blonde air-head. ^_^ She's not in super-saiyajin mode, her hair was just like that.*  
  
She looked out the view-port and noticed that the sun was sinking behind the trees, night was falling.   
  
"...What country are we in?" she asked suddenly.  
  
Clarice, startled at her sudden interest in earth, thought for a moment and answered. "Costa Rica. There's a lot of jungle here, I thought that it would be a good hide-out..."  
  
"Oh... kinda reminds you of the Mystic Ruins, doesn't it?" said Dryphus, her eyes fixed on the screen.  
  
"Actually... it does," said Clarice. She hadn't even thought of it that way. "All it needs is the cliff at the end and the ruins of the temple in the middle of it..."  
  
Dryphus smiled, but suddenly got an idea. "Do you think that we can see them from here?" she asked excitedly.  
  
Clarice stared.  
  
"Well the ship is hooked up with a tele-communicater, and this planet has sattelites with cameras in them. We could try to override the sattelite system and use the camera to get a glimpse of them..."  
  
"You're sick," said Clarice. "I don't want to spy on them-"  
  
"Aw, c'mon! I haven't seen them, and I can't just go over there and ask them who they are. And my tail would be a dead giveaway, and-"  
  
"Fine! Stop babbling..."  
  
Clarice sucked her teeth and began typing furiously on one of the many keyboards on the control panel. She looked up the screen, which had suddenly changed from the beautiful rain forest in front of them to a grid of the space outside of earth.   
  
She located on sattelite that was hovering right over the north-western hemisphere of the earth, almost directly over Japan.   
  
Humming quietly, she continued to type rapidly and soon the sattelite was under her control. She pin-pointed to camera controls and was soon zooming in on the country.  
  
She stopped when she had a skyline view of Satan City, not wanting to go any further.   
  
"I don't feel right about it," she said as Dryphus opened her mouth to ask why she'd stopped. "I don't like spying on people if there isn't a good purpose for it."  
  
"Well there *is* a good purpose! You're best friend wants to see the 'long-lost' Prince!" said Dryphus. "...Please?"  
  
Clarice glared at her, and Dryphus pouted her lip.  
  
The older saiyajin sowled. "Do whatever you want," said Clarice suddenly, getting up from her chair, "But I don't want any part of it."  
  
Dryphus grinned and jumped into Clarice's chair as Clarice walked out of the room. She pressed a button on the key board, zooming in even more.  
  
'Look at all of those weaklings,' she thought savagely as the citezens of Japan became more clear.   
  
Suddenly something occured to her.  
  
"Clarice! Yo, Miss Commando! You didn't tell me where they lived!!" cried Dryphus; Clarice was already quite far from the main control room.   
  
Clarice suddenly appeared behind the chair and muttered "Capsule Corporation," bitterly before disappearing again.   
  
Dryphus looked up Earth on the galactic map, then Japan, then Capsule Corporation. The map pointed her directly in the direction of the large estate.   
  
She smirked and punched a few more keys, hoping to get a good view of the building. She could soon see the roof of a house over a few trees, then she moved the camera a bit more upward, then downward to the left.  
  
'Better,' she thought. What she didn't know was that the sattelite could magnify sound, too. Suddenly a blue car drove to the front of the house and the door opened. Quite interested in who it could be, Dryphus leaned forward and payed very close attention to the screen before her.  
  
A boy, who didn't look any older than maybe twenty-five or twenty-six, stepped out of the car with a large, white, plastic bag in his hand. She couldn't see exactly what was in it, but the semi-transparent bag told her that whatever it was was very colorful.  
  
The boy looked around a few times, then turned to get something from the car. When he stood up, Dryphus gasped.  
  
'He's cute... for a human,' thought Dryphus. 'He's muscular, too...'  
  
Dryphus's eyes narrowed in suspiscion, then she took out a scouter, though this was new model - it was smaller, for one thing, it looked like a pair of small headphones, a microphone protruding from the left ear-piece to the front of her mouth, and a very small, rectangular screen that was no bigger in length than her pinky finger, and about as wide as a bottle cap.  
  
The tiny, tiny screen suddenly turned blue, shining the saphire-colored light on her face as she pressed a button on the right ear-piece. Small numbers began to move rapidly across it, then landed on one number: 687.   
  
Dryphus gasped. 'He's way too strong to be human...'  
  
She pressed a few more of the miniscule buttons on the right side of the Neo-Scouter and the numbers scrambled again, jetting from bigger to smaller, then a few letters popped up. She pressed one more button, a purple one this time.   
  
The screen turned red and this time letters popped up on the screen. The words "Saiyajin/Human" were on the screen.  
  
'What?' she tought. 'That can't be right...'  
  
She ran another scan on the person and it turned up the same. She was about to go and ask Clarice about it, but then decided not to bother her. Just then, a girl came running out of the house and stopped in front of the car.   
  
"Did you get the decorations?" asked the blue-haired girl.  
  
"Yeah," said the spiky-haired boy, handing the bag to her. "Do you think that the confetti was too much?"  
  
"Nah. Hey, do you think think that when she walks in that we could dump it on her or something?" asked the girl excitedly.  
  
"Uh... I don't think she'd like it too much," said the boy.   
  
'Well he *looks* like he could be saiyajin,' thought Dryphus. She snapped back to the screen and paid attention as the girl began to talk again.  
  
"...Don't you have the strangest feeling that we're being watched?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
'It's getting late,' thought Bulma tiredly. 'Maybe I should call it quits for the night....'  
  
She yawned and got up from her office chair, stretching. She decided to start working again because she wanted something to keep her mind off of Vegeta's problem. But unfortunately, it didn't work; and now everyone was running off and doing something, she wasn't sure what, though. All day, people kept running in and out of the house, making calls, and she really didn't know what to make of it. And worse, they seemed to be avoiding her.  
  
Bulma turned the light off, leaving the office darker except for a few rays of light that came from the window. She sighed and grabbed her purse, heading towards the door. Suddenly there was a loud knock.  
  
She stopped dead. Who would still be in the building at this time of night? How did they get by the clearence without the security officer notifying her that someone was coming up to see her? *Why* would they want to see her?   
  
She snapped back to reality when the person knocked on the door again, this time banging on it a lot harder.  
  
"Wh-who is it?" called Bulma.  
  
The person didn't answer.  
  
"...Hello?" cried Bulma, moving back toward her desk; she had a gun in one of the drawers that she'd always kept for protection.  
  
There was still no reply.  
  
"I-I'm warning you, I'm armed-"  
  
Just then, the door came crashing down, torn right off it's hinges, a couple of small flames on the side of it. Bulma tore her eyes away from the door to look at the intruder.   
  
She'd never seen the woman before. The mysterious (and very sinister looking) woman had black hair and very pale gray eyes. That was all she could see, considering the darkness of the room.  
  
"...Wh-Who are you?" asked Bulma feebily. She didn't know why, but even the fact that she had a gun didn't comfort her.   
  
The woman gave a low, amused laugh.  
  
"I," she said, taking a step towards Bulma, "Am," she took another step, this time stepping on the fallen door, making her appear taller, "Your," she took another step forward, this time steeping off of the door, "Worst," she again moved forward, "Nightmare."  
  
The woman disappeared. Bulma held the gun out in front of her, both of her hands shaking violently. 'Where'd she go?' thought Bulma, panicking. By now, she'd begun to breath more heavily, her heart doing a drum-roll on her ribs. She kept turning wildly, pointing the gun left and right, trying to find the intruder.  
  
Just then she felt a presence behind her. Bulma held her breath as she turned, slowly, to the person that stood there.   
  
Suddenly she breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Oh Kami, Vegeta, I'm so glad that you're here," said Bulma breathily. "A woman just broke into my office and I think that she was going to kill... me..."  
  
Bulma stopped when she saw Vegeta's face. He had a stern, emotionless look on his face.  
  
"...V-Vegeta, are you... are you alright?" asked Bulma backing away from him a little bit. "Vegeta, you're scaring me..."  
  
She noticed that his eyes weren't focused on her anymore, but on something behind her. She turned to see the woman again, standing with her arms crossed.   
  
The woman smirked. "Do it."  
  
Bulma, stared, wide-eyed, at the woman, wondering she could've meant by that. Suddenly she felt something wrap around her neck painfully, squeezing harder and harder.  
  
She turned to see Vegeta, his cold eyes giving her immeasurable fear. He was choking her.  
  
"Vegeta...::cough:: Please... stop ::sputter:: Don't... ::whimper::..stop..."  
  
At this point, Bulma wasn't even speaking anymore, just whispering. All she could do was hang there, limp, as his hands tightened around her throat. She almost screamed with pain as her neck-bone broke in two, her hands gripping his wrists tightly as the gun lay forgotten on the floor.  
  
Bulma started to feel faint. Her eyes suddenly began to cloud over with blackness. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision, but the black cloud was taking over. Her eyes began to close, but she forced them to stay open.   
  
Bulma could feel Vegeta's grip on her neck loosen. 'What's happening?'   
  
Suddenly she felt the worst pain she'd eveer felt in her life - she wasn't sure what Vegeta was doing, but the pain began to envelope her entire body, burning her from the outside in.  
  
He let go of her, sending her falling to the floor. She forced her eyes open and saw a bright flash of light; Vegeta was charging up a ki blast to finish her off.   
  
If he was saying anything, she couldn't hear it, because she suddenly felt as if two pillows were being pressed over her ears, muffling all sound. 'I guess this is what dying feels like,' she thought miserably. The last thing she saw was the woman, standing behind Vegeta and laughing before the white-hot ball of light enveloped her body...   
  
  
~*~*~END DREAM~*~*~  
  
Bulma woke from the chair she was sitting in, breathing heavily. She looked around the room and realized that it had been a dream. 'Bulma, now you're having nightmares about this Vegeta situation... you *have* to ask him about it as soon as you get home.'  
  
She looked at her watch. It was only six o'clock.  
  
Deciding that she would have to get it over with, Bulma got up from her desk and grabbed her purse and began to walk towards the door when there was a loud knock.  
  
'Oh, no...'  
  
Not wasting any time, Bulma ran over to the desk and got her gun, which was fully loaded. Holding the gun out in front of her, too ready to pull the trigger, Bulma walked slowly to the door and called fiercely, "Who is it?"  
  
"It's me, Mrs. Briefs," called a jolly voice. "You've been up here for a while, I thought I'd bring you up some coffee."  
  
Bulma sighed and walked over to the door, it was only the old security officer named Ben. She wrenched the door open and let Ben inside, relieved.  
  
"Thanks a lot, Ben," said Bulma, smiling. "I thought that-"  
  
She suddenly noticed the look of terror on Ben's face. She turned around and looked behind her, expecting someone to be standing there, but there was no one. She turned back around, confused, to face the old man.  
  
"I-I'm s-s-sorry M-Mrs. Briefs, I-I didn't m-mean to bother y-you-"  
  
"What are you talking about?" asked Bulma, even more confused. "Ben, is something wrong?"  
  
She stared at him for a moment, then followed his gaze down to her hand. The gun sat in her grip, her finger still on trigger.  
  
She bursted out laughing. "Ben, this wasn't for you," she explained. "When you knocked on the door, I thought that you were someone else. I would never shoot you."  
  
"O-Oh," said the old man, though he was still shaking a little bit.  
  
Bulma put the gun down on a small, round table in the corner of the office and walked back over to Ben.  
  
"I'm really sorry. It was nice of you to bring out the coffee," said Bulma, trying to calm him down a little bit. She didn't want him to have a heart-attack.  
  
Ben laughed a little bit. "I'm sorry for thinking that you'd shoot me," he said.  
  
She waved her hand in dismissal and Ben left, shaking his head and muttering something about "Kids these days."  
  
Bulma suddenly remembered that her original plan was to go home and ask Vegeta about his problem, so she grabbed her purse and was just about to leave when she saw the gun again.  
  
'Better take it, that dream could have been a premonition.'  
  
She put the gun in her bag, just for protection; even if her nightmare wasn't going to come true, there were still dangers around.   
  
She said goodbye to another one of the security officers, Stanley, as she walked out into the parking lot. Suddenly a strange sense of foreboding washed over her as she stepped out onto the cold pavement. She shivered slightly, she was being watched. But by who?  
  
*In case you think it's Dryphus, it's not.*  
  
Shivering slightly, she walked quickly to her red air-car. It was then that she noticed a motorcycle that she'd never seen before. It was all black and looked brand-new. She looked at the license plate, then smiled. The license plate read "3LLR" on it; it meant "Thriller". 'That's clever,' she thought.   
  
*Author's note: That's the license plate I'm getting on my motorcycle, don't copy it please.*  
  
She started the car and drove out of the parking lot quickly, anxious to get home, and completely oblivious to the roar of the motorcycle engine that had started as soon as her car had exited the lot.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Bulma was finally home. Now she would get straight down to buisness and ask him what was going on, and if he didn't tell her, she'd... she'd.... she didn't even know yet. But she had to at least try.  
  
Wondering why the house was so dark, she searched through her purse for her house-keys. 'Was that a motorcycle?' Sighing and dismissing the sound, she got out her keys and unlocked the door. Stepping inside, she noticed that inside the house was a lot darker than it looked from the outside.  
  
'Oh no...'  
  
Suddenly she heard someone breathing heavily from the doorway. Was her dream coming true?   
  
"Hehehe... surprise," rasped a voice from behind her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Hey!! Did you like this chapter?! I hope so!! I know it was stupid, but hey, I made it longer to make up for those pitifully short chapters before this one. And guess what... I just read over chapter 1 and I was like "What have I *DONE*?!!!" That chapter just seemed soooo stupid, I swear... there are so many things that I would have changed about it, had I been writing it now...  
  
What else... oh, and I apologize for waiting so long to post these chapters up. I already told you about the whole scenario *is that the way u spell it?* with chapter two... I seriously think that my computer got messed up by that "Code Red 2 Worm Virus" or whatever it is thing that the FBI is talking about because this thing just keeps getting more and more messed up and now it's going berserk.  
  
Now, for the questions that will haunt you forever (or at least until I get the next few chapters up):  
  
Who was at the door behind Bulma? Who did the motorcycle belong to? Was the owner of the motorcycle following Bulma? Will Clarice ever get an answer from Vegeta? If so, what will the answer be? Whoever bought that pink sequin tube-top that Bra wanted? Will Dryphus tell anyone about what Clarice is doing? What's going to happen to Clarice if she goes back to Vejitasei "empty-handed"? And why do they keep having dreams about Clarice killing Bulma - Is it a death omen, or just a coincidence? Find out on -   
  
Dragon Ball Z: The Legends of Chaos  
  
  
  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
~Valerie~ *  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter Five: It's My Party and I'll Cry...

Hey... I started writing this chapter right after I posted up the other three chapters.... so if it took a long time to post it up, something obviously went wrong...

Chapter Five: "It's My Part and I'll Cry If I Want To, Lie if I Want To, Die If I Want To"

*To explain the chapter name: **Cry** is on Bulma's part, **Lie** is on A bunch of people's parts, and **Die** is on Clarice's part.*

****

WARNING: IF YOU DID NOT READ THE OTHER CHAPTER SEVEN THAT I REPLACED, THE ONE AFTER "OUT OF TIME", PLEASE READ IT BEFORE READING THIS!!!!

Bulma spun around, her face full of terror to see a tall figure standing behind her, their sharp teeth and green skin shining eerily - 

Wait, _green skin_?

Bulma recognized the person immediately and sucked her teeth. Suddenly, all of the lights flickered on and she heard hundreds of voices shout "Suprise!!" from behind her.

Bulma turned to see an extremely large amount of people, she estimated five or six hundred, standing before her. The house (or at least as far as she could see) was decorated with streamers, balloons, banners that said "Happy Birthday, Bulma!", confetti, etc. 

She turned to look at Nazomi.

"Why did you scare me like that?" she asked, slight anger in her voice.

"What can ya say? I like to freak people out," said Nazomi, shrugging.

"You must get that from your father," Bulma laughed. "I used to always be afraid of him." 

Nazomi smiled and gave her a hug, murmuring "Happy Birthday, Busy Bee." 

Bulma returned the hug and turned to the crowd of people behind her, her face full of surprise and awe. She hadn't even remembered that it was her birthday, which made the party even more of a surprise.

Then something occurred to her. 

'So that's what they've been doing,' she thought. 'I can't believe that I actually yelled at Trunks for this...'

She saw a familiar group of people standing in front of the crowd - Marron, Goten, Pan, Bra, Chi-Chi, Trunks, Goku, Gohan and Goten, and the rest of the Z Warriors - all with happy grins on their faces.

"I... I don't know what to say," said Bulma said, laughing. "Thank you..."

They were grinning even more widely at this, and they each gave her a hug before ushering her into the crowd.

"This is great," said Bra as she watched her mother being greeted by another group of people. "It's a success so far, and she really seems to be enjoying herself."

"Yeah," agreed Pan. "...So _did_ Marron ever invite the Sukaros?" she asked suddenly, looking around. 

"Hey, you know what? I think that she did," said Bra. "Where _is_ she...?"

They set off to look for Marron as the DJ, posted on a large platform at the other side of the room, began to play the music. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oh, hello, Mr. Ohojii!" cried Bulma, giving him a hug. "Long time no see!"

"Yes, it _has_ been quite a while," said the white-haired man, smiling. "Yes, it has... so how is your company doing?"

"Oh, great, but it's not the same without you there," she answered; he'd retired about a month before.

"I'm happy to here it," he laughed. 

"...Well... Can you excuse me for a moment?" asked Bulma. "There's someone that I have to speak to..."

"Sure," said Mr. Ohojii, still smiling. "Oh, cheese puffs..."

She watched the old man make his way to a long row of tables with food on them and laughed, then turned back to the person she wanted to see.

Vegeta was standing in a far corner of the room, his hands in the pockets of the black pants that he was wearing. He was even wearing the shirt that she'd once picked out for him - a red, silk shirt with long sleeves that fit him perfectly, slightly showing off his muscles. A couple of the top buttons were left open.

Bulma smiled - he said that he'd never wear it, and she thought that it lay in the closet, forgotten. She began to make her way to the other side of the room, when someone grabbed her arm.

She turned to see a tall man, his hair slightly graying, grinning at her. 

"Oh, hello, Jack," she said politely. "Could you excuse me for a moment? There's someone-"

"Bulma, what has it been, three years?" he said, his silky voice aggravating her. "Look, there's someone I want you to meet," he said, about to pull her over to someone else.

"Look, I'd love to meet whoever it is, but I need to talk to someone..."

But when Bulma looked over to where Vegeta had been standing, he was gone. 

__

'Where could he have gone?'

"Bulma, meet Miranda, Miranda, meet Bulma," said Jack, pulling Bulma from her thoughts. She looked next to him to see a blonde girl that couldn't be more than twenty-five years old standing next to him, in a tight, red dress that just barely covered her over-large chest.

Bulma felt like beating Jack's head off - she'd dated him once while they were in college, and ever since she'd broken up with him, he'd done whatever was in his power to try and make her jealous - this included showing off his young girlfriends to her whenever he had the opportunity, much to her annoyance. 

"Hello, Miranda," said Bulma curtly. "It's very nice to meet you. But can the two of you please excuse me? I-"

"Well Bulma," said Jack, looking around the room, "Where's your husband? I haven't had a chance to meet him yet."

"He's..." Bulma looked around desperately, trying to locate her mate. "He's..."

She suddenly felt two strong arms wrap around her from behind, giving her a warm hug.

"Happy Birthday," whispered Vegeta before kissing her on the cheek.

"This," said Bulma, grinning broadly, "is my husband. Vegeta, meet Jack, Jack meet Vegeta."

The smug look on Jack's face faltered at the sight of Vegeta, but he quickly replaced it, smirking. 

"Nice to finally meet you," said Jack in his silkiest voice. 

"Same here," said Vegeta, grinning a grin that showed off his razor sharp canines, frightening Jack more than he already had. He extended one arm to shake Jack's hand, the other one still wrapped around Bulma's stomach.

Jack smirked and extended his hand too - and he almost screamed in pain as Vegeta's hand tightened significantly around his, straining it just to the breaking point.

Vegeta finally let go of his hand, still smirking and replaced his arm to it's place on Bulms'd waist.

"And this is Miranda," said Bulma, who hadn't noticed what had just happened.

Vegeta looked over at the blonde. He hadn't noticed her there, but he smiled nonetheless and nodded to her in greeting. 

"Miranda... w-what do you s-say we go... to..." Jack was try to get Miranda's attention, but she was staring at Vegeta, looking him up and down.

"Miranda," said Jack a bit more loudly, obviously becoming angry and embarrassed. "Let's go."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she snapped suddenly, turning and walking away from him haughtily. 

"Miranda, wait!" cried Jack, going after her. Bulma and Vegeta watched them, and Bulma suddenly started laughing. 

Vegeta smiled and leaned down to whisper to Bulma.

"I'm going to go and get some air," he whispered before letting go of Bulma, much to her disappointment. She turned to ask him to stay with her a few more minutes, at least, so she could introduce him to a few more people, but when she turned, he was already gone.

~*-T-*~^~*-H-*~^~*-E-*~

Vegeta walked out onto the deck behind the house, into the slightly chilly night air. He breathed deeply, letting the oxygen fill his lungs, letting it linger for a moment before exhaling. 

He'd come out here to get some peace - but what a fat chance that was, he could still hear the loud music from inside the house, the buzz of people talking, a buzz that sounded more like a hoard of angry bees. 

He leaned against the railing, his elbows on it as his hands hung over the edge, dangling carelessly. 

He sighed. This was getting out of hand. After he'd made his decision, it seemed to make too much sense, he wondered why his mind hadn't just jumped to it the night Clarice had arrived on earth. It seemed so simple, the decision, that he thought that maybe the only reason it'd taken him so long to make it was because he missed his home planet, but hadn't thought through the entire situation clearly, his mind clouded with both possibilities.

He looked up; his vision directed towards the fireflies that had begun their nightly dance, weaving and bobbing through the air gracefully, little fairies of the twilight.

He smiled - fireflies always reminded him of the night, so long ago, that he'd finally put his pride on the line and told Bulma his true feelings for her, feelings that he'd denied and kept bottled up for months...

His thoughts lingered to his mate, a smile creeping across his lips. He remembered that night, as vividly as though someone had branded it in his mind, in those woods, where he and Bulma had confirmed their bond, where Trunks was conceived...

He heard a soft thud behind him, but didn't turn to look at her. How she knew he was there was beyond him, he'd been keeping his ki down - but then again she _was_ a trained assassin, trained to find her target no matter what the circumstances were.

But after a few years into the profession, Clarice quit, even though she was going on to being one of the best of her kind, having never failed once - she didn't want to kill people if there wasn't a good reason for it. Of course, on Vejitasei, this was something that showed extreme weakness, but the renegade shinobi never cared what anyone else thought.

And to that day, even if murder wasn't on the agenda she had in mind, she never failed to find - and corner - her target. 

__

'Maybe that's why father sent her after me.'

He turned to Clarice and leaned back against the railing, but he still didn't look her directly in the face. The memory of the nightmare was still vivid in his mind, and each time he tried to tell himself that Clarice would never stoop so low as to kill anyone he knew personally, the thought of what his sub-conscious mind had conjured up for her to say seemed to glisten and shine even more, becoming more vivid, more clear, as though begging him to believe that it was the truth. 

__

'You just have a wild imagination,' he thought, bringing himself to look up at her. 

When he did, he wanted to both laugh and say "Well Done" at he same time.

Clarice seemed to be wearing all leather - she had on black leather boots, black leather pants, and a black leather jacket. The only thing that she didn't have on that was leather was the t-shirt she had on, which had a large, shiny, imprint of a bunny head on it. Whether the shirt was supposed to be as tight as it was or if it was too small for her, he didn't know.

And her hair, instead of it's usual high, thick ponytail, was in a French braid that reached the base of her spine, her tail wrapped around her left leg. 

She didn't say anything, she just waited for him to talk to her. She was pretty sure that he knew why she was there, and he was the only one that had to say anything, so she wouldn't speak until he did. 

"Where'd you get the clothes?" he asked curiously, his voice drowned in half- amusement, half wonder.

"Dryphus bought them." She knew better than to tell him, but he would know if she were lying. *Yo, you damn well have better not forgotten that British accent! ^_^*

"She's here too?" he asked, though he didn't sound surprised. 

Clarice nodded. "She won't tell anyone, she swore to it. If she does, I'll kill her myself."

Vegeta gave a very brief, very quiet chuckle. 

"...Can I ask you a question?" asked Clarice looking down at the shirt she was wearing.

"Go ahead," said Vegeta.

"What the _hell_ is _this_?" she asked, pointing to the bunny-head silhouette. "I don't understand it. Is it some type of trademark or something...?"

"It's the Playboy logo," said Vegeta, completely amused at the look on Clarice's face. 

"What?" she asked, looking more confused. "What's a 'Playboy'?"

"It's a magazine," he said, wanting to laugh. She was so smart, yet so naive. 

"About what?" she asked. 

"...Uh... photos," he said. 

Clarice sighed and shrugged her shoulders, then leaned back on the railing, mimicking Vegeta's position. It was then that he noticed something large and shiny in Clarice's hand. It was all black.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the object in her hand. 

"Oh... motorcycle helmet," she said.

"You have a motorcycle?" he asked incredulously. 

"Yes," she said, lifting up the helmet and looking it over with a critical eye, as though judging it. "Dryphus bought that, too."

"Where'd she get the money?" he asked suddenly. "She doesn't have any of the currency on earth, does she?"

Clarice shrugged. "No idea."

"Why did you decide to come now?" he asked out of the blue.

She looked at him, then up at the stars, all of them winking and sparkling. 

"This afternoon, Dryphus was - erm... she was flying over the country, trying to find you," lied Clarice. "She wanted to know if you were really living here. She came back and told me that they seemed to be preparing for some type of festivity." She jerked her head in the direction of the open doorway, noting the party that was going on inside. "I hadn't known whether you'd told anyone or not about your predicament, so I decided that this would be the perfect time to speak to you. I don't think that I would be all _that_ distinguishable from the crowd, so the less anyone noticed me, the better.

"That's where the motorcycle came in," continued Clarice. All of it was true, except for the part about Dryphus flying around and trying to find him - she wasn't about to tell him that she'd been spying on them. "Dryphus said that most of the humans were alarmed by seeing her fly, so of course, I wasn't about to go and start some type of panic by flying also. And of course, I didn't know where you lived, so..." she trailed off, her gaze sweeping the wooden floor of the deck.

"What?" asked Vegeta.

"I decided to follow Bulma," she said, looking back up at him. "I couldn't feel _your_ ki, so I felt around for hers. I remembered what the other half of your son's ki felt like, so it was easy to find her. I waited for her after she got out of work and followed her until I got here, and then waited out here for you. I knew you'd come out," she continued, a grin spreading across her face, "because I knew you'd never be able to resist the moon when it's full."

It was true. Vegeta grinned as he looked up at the pearly white sphere, surrounded by all of it's celestial fellows, the stars. It _was_ a very beautiful night. 

He turned back and smiled. She knew him too well. He looked up at her to see her face full of awe, staring up at the moon, her body showered in the blue light. 

Kami, she was especially beautiful at night, he'd always said it...

...But no matter how beautiful she was, Bulma would always be the most beautiful woman in the world in his eyes.

She looked back at him, then smiled as she noticed that he was staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, uh... nothing," said Vegeta, shaking his head and looking away.

For a few moments, everything was silent as death, for it was the moment of truth... both of them could feel it...

Vegeta looked up. He didn't know what her reaction would be, but he thought that if he put it off any longer, it would be worse.

"Clarice... I decided... I decided that I wanted to-"

"I already know what your decision is," said Clarice, smiling.

"You... You do?" asked Vegeta, confused. "But how?"

"I'm insulted," she said teasingly. "As long as we've known each other, you don't think that I'd know you well enough to figure this out?"

She laughed at the confused look on his face. 

"Just because we were separated for a while doesn't mean that I've forgotten anything about you..."

She trailed off as her gaze fell to the ground, a sad expression on her face. 

"I knew, Vegeta, because..." she let out a long, drawn out sigh, trying to find the right words to lace her explanation together.

"Well... I knew that if it took you _this_ long to make your decision that you obviously care about these people very, very much," she said, her eyes turning to look in at the party, all of the laughing, dancing people, and the loud music. 

"And... That's how I knew. I knew that you obviously cared about them too much to leave them."

So she did know. 

Vegeta looked her face - her expression was hard to read, almost non-existent; the same "expression" she'd had when she'd found out about Bulma in the first place. 

He was about to say something when she looked up and smiled, though the smile didn't exist in her eyes, which were saddened.

"I... guess that this is good-bye, then," she said, her voice wavering slightly. 

Vegeta looked down - he didn't know what to say. If she went back to Vejitasei, his father was more than likely to kill her for failing, and he was more than capable of doing it - even as strong as she was, something she'd worked and worked for almost her entire life, King Vegeta was much stronger than she was, something that he had to make sure of to keep his rank of King.

Not that he regretted the decision - of course he wanted to stay with his family, with the woman he loved, even if meant putting up a mean front, but it was all worth it. The only thing he regretted was not being able to do anything about Clarice's fate.

"Well..."

"...Well..."

"I should get going now," said Clarice. "They'll get suspicious."

"Yeah," said Vegeta, feeling guilty, for his decision had not only decided the rest of his life, but the end of hers. 

"Well..."

He looked up as she spoke again, and saw her with her arms out-stretched.

"If we're never going to see each other again," she said quietly, a hopeful look in her eyes. 

Vegeta smiled and complied, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. 

With a sigh consisting of both sadness and happiness, she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him as tightly as she could without hurting him, her face buried in his neck.

She pulled back and let her hands travel up to his cheeks and kissed him. Vegeta, surprised by the kiss, didn't have time to react, whether it was to return it or stop it.

Clarice stepped back again, a full two feet from him, and smiled. She kneeled down on knee, her hand over her heart, her gaze cast downward. 

She looked back up at him and murmured half-humouredly,

"Farewell, your majesty."

With that, she teleported and was gone.

Vegeta stared at the spot she'd been kneeling in a moment before, then turned and leaned back on the railing again. She was right about caring about them too much to leave them... he couldn't even imagine life without Bulma and the rest of the Z Warriors, no matter how annoying and stupid they were....

__

I don't wanna be, be without ya, be without ya

I don't wanna live, live without ya, live without ya

I don't wanna go, go without ya, go without ya

I don't wanna be alone 

Vegeta sighed, wondering if he'd made the right decision. 'Of course you did,' said a voice in his head. 'But you've given up an awful lot to be with her. That just shows how much you love her.'

He smirked suddenly. He did love her, and he'd given up the saiyajin empire to be with her. He'd been with her too long, and he wasn't about to give up thirty-five years of marriage.

__

When we hooked up

We sat down

Made an agreement

We vowed that

That we'd always

Be together

Through whatever

We said that

No one would ever

Get between us

So love would

Never ever leave us

That was a while ago

He smiled to himself - he wouldn't admit it to her, hell, he half didn't want to admit it to himself, but he did.

"I love you, Bulma."

~*-L-*~^~*-E-*~^~*-G-*~^~*-E-*~^~*-N-*~^~*-D-*~^~*-S-*~

Bra walked around the large room, still in search of either Marron or the Sukaros. As she looked around, she suddenly felt herself bump into something.

Stumbling backward, she spun around and found herself looking into the obsidian eyes of Goten, who's arm was hooked around the arm of the red-head she'd seen at the mall. 

"Oh, hi Goten," said Bra hastily, trying to make a quick getaway. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm alright," he said, smiling, though he seemed a little bit tired. 

"I'm glad," said Bra, nodding. "Uh.... I'll go, then-"

"Goo-goo, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" whined the red-head as Bra was just about to leave.

"Oh, right - Bra, this is Tiffany, Tiffany, this is Bra," said Goten, smiling from girl to girl. 

"Nice to meet you," said Bra, giving a very forced grin. 

"Same to you," said Tiffany, grinning back. "I love that dress."

"Oh, thanks," said Bra, looking down at the blue dress. "Well, I've gotta go and talk to someone - I'll see you guys later, okay?"

She flashed a grin and turned on her heel, trying to get as far from them as possible.

'I'm not going to cry,' she said. 'Too much mascara... too many people...'

~*-O-*~^~*-F-*~

Bulma walked around, looking for Vegeta, a glass of wine she'd been nursing in her hand. He said that he'd gone out to get some air, but when she'd asked around, everyone had said that they hadn't seen him go through any of the doors.

'I hope he didn't go flying around again...' 

She felt a light tap on her shoulder and thinking it was Vegeta, turned and was about to chastise him for leaving on such short notice, but stopped short.

It was Mercy, looking as stunning as ever in a silver/gray satin sleeveless dress. 

*A/N: Incase you find any typos while Mercy is talking -there aren't any, I checked - I just thought that with the accent, that's the way she'd pronounce whatever she was saying.*

"Oh, hi," said Bulma. "I thought you were someone else."

Mercy smiled and said " 'Appy, Bairthday, Boolma," before giving her a gentle hug.

"Thanks... did you know about this the whole time?" asked Bulma, suddenly wondering just how many people knew that the party would take place.

Mercy nodded, a guilty grin on her face. "You desairve eet," she said. "I've noteeced zat you 'ave been vairy... 'ow do you say... 'straissed out' lately..." 

"Oh, you've got that right," said Bulma, smiling back. "This family is getting to be too much to handle. I'm getting too old."

"Zat eez nonsense!" cried Mercy, looking horrified. "You are not old at all!"

"Mercy, "I'm sixty-two."

__

"C'est imposible!" spat Mercy, forgetting that Bulma didn't speak French. "_Je ne te crois pas! _You look too young for your age, I would 'ave guessed zat you were thairty."

*Author's Note: _"Je ne te crois pas!" _is pronounced Jeh-neh-te-qua-pah. It means "I do not believe you!"*

"Stop it," said Bulma, a flattered blush crossing her face. 

"Mrs. Briefs, how _are_ you?" cried another person, very enthusiastic to speak to her.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Graden," said Bulma, smiling.

"Hello, Mrs. Briefs! You look absolutely _stunning!_" said the man, shaking Bulma's hand enthusiastically - perhaps a bit _too_ enthusiastically, because Bulma had to use all of her strength to keep from spilling the wine she had in her hand onto the floor.

"And who is this lovely lady?" spoke Mr. Graden through his thick English accent, turning to Mercy.

"Oh, excuse me," said Bulma apologetically. "Mercy, this is Sir Arthur Graden, Mr. Graden, this is Mercy Serafine," said Bulma.

*A/N: I'm sorry, I put too many notes in this chapter, I know - but her last name is pronounced "sarah-feen" incase you thought it was actually pronounced sarah-fine.*

__

"Enchante," said Mercy, raising her hand so that she could shake his. .

"Wonderful to meet you," said Mr. Graden, shaking her hand. 

"Thank you," said Mercy. She suddenly looked over Mr. Graden's shoulder, her face growing serious. 

He and Bulma looked in the direction her eyes were pointed in, and saw Piccolo leaning on the edge of an empty table with his arms crossed, his face down and his eyes closed. He had on black pants and a silvery shirt that seemed to match Mercy's dress. 

"I weell be right back," said Mercy, walking by Bulma and Mr. Graden. Bulma continued to watch as Mercy made her way to where Piccolo was standing. Mr. Graden had begun speaking again, but she wasn't paying attention. Mercy took Piccolo's hands in hers and said something, but Bulma couldn't hear her. Piccolo suddenly glared at her and shook his head. Mercy had a pleading look on her face and said something else, and Piccolo's expression softened, but he still shook his head no. Mercy scowled, but gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away. 

"What was that about?" muttered Bulma quietly to herself.

"I say, who is that man?" said Mr. Graden suddenly, as he gaped at Piccolo, trying to figure out what Bulma was staring at. 

"That's Piccolo," said Bulma. "He's her husband."

"Tall fellow, isn't he?" said Mr. Graden, apparently un-phased by the fact that Piccolo was green, before turning back to Bulma.

"Yeah..."

Mercy suddenly walked right up next to Bulma and "hmphed", her arms crossed. Her face was flushed with anger and her lips were pursed, making them look very thin. 

"Um... Mr. Graden, could you get us some more drinks?" asked Bulma, handing him her glass. 

"Oh, yes, of course," said Mr. Graden. "I was just going to do that myself, I was."

He walked away, humming some type of made up tune.

Bulma turned back to Mercy. "What happened?" she asked, concerned.

"It eez Peacollo," said Mercy, her face still flushed. "'E weell not talk, 'e weell not eet, 'e weell not do anyzing I ask 'im to. 'E weell no even dance with me..." 

Her expression suddenly saddened and her face fell.

"Hey, I'm sure it's not _you,_" said Bulma truthfully. "God, I don't think Piccolo would like dancing with anyone _period_," she said, looking at his mean stature.

Mercy laughed softly, but her eyes were still cast downward.

Just then, Mr. Graden returned with the drinks.

"Oh, why so glum?" he asked Mercy, seeing her expression.

She sighed, glanced slightly in Piccolo's direction, then looked at the floor again and said "Nozing."

"Well _something_ has to be wrong," said Mr. Graden. "I don't think that an angel such as yourself should have anything to cry about."

Mercy looked up, blushing.

"Oh, vairy funny, Meester Graden," said Mercy, still blushing. 

"Seriously," he said, smiling. "I think-"

"Dad!"

They all turned to see a young, handsome man making his way through the thick crowd, heading in their direction. 

*A/N: Just imagine an... an Antonio Banderez type person... ::drool:: ^_^*

"Dad, you have a phone call," he said, handing Mr. Graden a green/blue cell phone.

"Well there's far too much noise in here," said Mr. Graden. "I'm going to take this outside. I'll be right back."

He turned and headed for the front door, pushing through the crowd with all the strength an old man could muster, holding the phone above his head.

"Well then... oh Mercy cheer up," said Bulma as she turned to see Mercy 's face still covered in sadness.

"What happened?" asked Mr. Graden's son, noticing the look o her face too.

"Her husband," said Bulma without thinking. "He's not really a party person, and she's kind of upset about it."

"Well that's too bad," said the young man, giving her a sympathetic look.

"Uh, Mercy, this is Daniel, Daniel, this is Mercy," said Bulma.

"Hi," said Daniel, grinning broadly, a grin that would make a girl faint.

"Haillo," said Mercy without even looking at him.

"...So... uh... great party," said Daniel, looking around and trying to make conversation. 

"Yeah, it is," said Bulma. "I think that Bra got the 'party-planning-gene' from me."

They both laughed, but Mercy wasn't paying attention to them - she was watching Piccolo.

"Oh, uh.. Daniel, could you get us some punch?" asked Bulma suddenly.

"Oh, um.. sure."

__

"Mercy! You are stinking up my party!" cried Bulma, slapping Mercy on the arm. "I cannot have fun knowing that someone's depressed! It just crashes the mood."

Mercy "hmphed", which sounded more like she'd given a short, quick breath through her nose. 

"Maybe I should leave, zen," said Mercy, sighing. "I do not think zat zair eez any chance of my mood improving..."

"Sure there is!" cried Bulma, smiling. "Just dance with someone else, dancing always makes everyone feel better... and I think your daughter's already discovered that..."

Mercy's face snapped upward to look at Bulma, confusion covering her features, then she turned in the direction that everyone seemed to be looking in. Mercy gasped and her hands flew over her mouth, stifling her laughter.

There, in the middle of the dance floor, were Nazomi and Goten, both dancing so erratically that the rest of the dancers had cleared a large space for them, fearful of serious injury.

Both of them seemed to be dancing in the same style, if it could be called that - they just seemed to be jerking different parts of there bodies around and tossing their heads, Nazomi's hair creating a maroon cloud around her head whenever she turned her face. 

Bulma glanced in Piccolo's direction, and saw that he too was watching them - his face was a mix of both horror and amusement.

The song ("Up In Here" by DMX) finally ended, and Nazomi and Goten finally stopped "dancing". They looked up and to their surprise, there was loud applause from the crowd - everyone thought that it was funny. 

Nazomi and Goten, both having a good sense of humor, greeted the crowd - Goten began bowing, flourishing his hands, as Nazomi curtsied and blew kisses to everyone.

Mercy laughed as Nazomi walked over to where they were standing, her face still a bit flushed from dancing so wildly. 

"Zat was wondairfool," said Mercy, grinning broadly.

"Thanks," breathed Nazomi. "But why aren't you doing anything? It's a party, just let loose!" she cried, moving around again in a dancing motion. 

Mercy laughed. "You're right," she said quietly. 

Daniel came back with the drinks, a smile on his face.

"Daniel, this is Nazomi, Nazomi, this is Daniel," sais Bulma automatically. 

"Hay," said Nazomi, grinning.

"Hey."

"So... oh bah, they're playing slow songs now," said Nazomi, looking disappointed. "I gotta go get someone to dance with... mom, cheer up," said Nazomi, rubbing her mother's arm before walking to the other side of the room, obviously having spotted a boy that seemed to be alone.

"....." Bulma looked at Mercy, who seemed to be considering something . Suddenly she stood up straight and turned to Daniel. 

"Would you like to dance?" she asked, smiling.

Daniel looked a bit surprised at first, but then smiled. "Sure."

Mercy grinned and grabbed his hand, leading him out to the dance floor. As soon as they had a good spot, Daniel wrapped his arms around her waist, and Mercy put her arms around his neck, her head, resting against his chest . They began moving in a circular motion, rocking slowly from side to side.

Bulma laughed as Mercy winked at her - she knew what Mercy's intentions were now. She was trying to make Piccolo jealous. 

Wanting to dance with someone, Bulma resumed her search for Vegeta - only to be greeted by another eager group of people.

Bulma smiled and sighed, greeting all of her "guests", all enthusiastic to speak with her ("Oh, you look _lovely_ this evening!").

~*-C-*~^~*-H-*~^~*-A-*~^~*-O-*~^~*-S-*~ 

Bra made her way through the crowd, looking for someone she knew even remotely. All of her friends had been scattered, and even standing on her toes to see over the heads of the hundreds of people, she couldn't find a single person that she recognized. 

"Ugh," she moaned in exasperation, being to get tired. "Where could they all be...?"

She was about to give up hope when she saw her mother, surrounded by at least five or six people, all keen to engage her in conversation at the same time.

Bulma just stood there, looking around from person to person as they spoke, a nervous smile on her face as they closed in around her, entrapping her .

Bra giggled at her mother's situation and turned around, looking around for any sine of Nazomi - she hadn't seen where she'd gone after her "dance" with Goten.

Sighing again, she turned - and immediately regretted it. _There_ was Goten, yet again, and Tiffany was whispering something in his ear.

She could do nothing but stare, her eyes brimming with tears. Goten suddenly grinned and nodded, and without warning, turned and looked right at Bra.

Bra froze, then grinned at him, pretending that she hadn't been staring, then turned away, blinking furiously, and began walking in her mother's direction. 

"Yes, and have - oh, who's this?" asked a large, round woman asked Bulma, seeing Bra walk up slowly behind Bulma.

Bulma turned and saw Bra standing behind her, looking slightly depressed.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" asked Bulma quietly, her face filled with worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, mom."

Bulma smiled slightly and squeezed Bra's shoulder gently.

She turned back to the group of people and lightly pushed Bra in there direction.

"This is my daughter, Bra," said Bulma, smiling. "Bra, this is the Karamiti family."

"Hello," said Bra sheepishly, a very forced smile on her face.

"Well aren't you adorable?" said the large woman, smiling. "Mrs. Briefs, she looks just like you."

Bulma smiled and sighed with relief as Mrs. Karamati's husband ushered her away to meet someone else.

"Wow. I thought this party was going to be fun," muttered Bra quietly, more to herself than her mother.

"It _is _fun," said Bulma, wrapping her arm and Bra's shoulders and walking over to a table. "You just don't know a lot of these people. Why didn't you invite some of _your_ friends, anyway?"

"It was Marron's idea," said Bra exasperatedly, sitting down at the table. "She thought that if it was _your _party, we should invite _your_ people..." 

Bulma smiled. "Well, most of these people are my old work associates, so they don't know how to have any fun." 

But Bra seemed to be paying attention to something else. Bulma looked in the direction that Bra seemed to be looking in and laughed - Piccolo had suddenly appeared on the dance floor and tapped Daniel lightly on the shoulder, saying something that they couldn't hear. Daniel smiled and nodded, stepping back and grinning at Mercy before walking away. 

Mercy looked up at Piccolo, a questioning expression on her face.

Piccolo grunted something incoherently and Mercy grinned, a look of utter happiness on her face, and three her arms around his neck. 

Piccolo, looking exasperated, asthough this were the last place he wanted to be, wrapped his arms around her waist.

Both Bra and Bulma "awwwed", smiling.

"That's so cute," said Bulma, grinning. 

Bra nodded in agreement and rested her chin in her hand, her elbow propped up on the table. She looked around the room, then spotted another flash of green - she saw Nazomi, dancing with the discarded Daniel, who had a casual smile on his face. 

"Oooohhh, there are Videl and Chi-Chi," said Bulma suddenly. 

Bra turned to look at her mother, then at the part of the room she was looking at - sure enough, there was Chi-Chi, looking radiant in a short-sleeved red dress (_And she's finally let her hair down!_ thought Bra) and Videl, looking as beautiful as ever in a blue/black dress.

"C'mon, let's go before someone else wants to talk to us."

"Bulma grabbed Bra's hand pulled her through the crowd, towards Chi-Chi and Videl.

"Oh, hi, Bulma!" cried Videl. "We were looking for you." 

"I'm not surprised that you didn't find me," said Bulma. "I was swamped by all these people I haven't seen in _years_..."

"So how's Vegeta doing?" asked Chi-Chi, still smiling. "Did he ever get over his 'depression'?"

"Oh, he's fine now," said Bulma, grinning even more widely. "He even saved me from Jack tonight..."

Bulma suddenly broke into the account of what happened, grinning even more broadly as the story progressed. 

"And she broke up with him right there?" asked Videl, grinning.

"Yup. I guess Vegeta was just going through some type of mid-life crisis or something," said Bulma. 

"_Mid-life _crisis? Isn't he about seventy?" asked Chi-Chi, looking horrified.

"Saiyajins _do_ live longer than humans do," said Bulma thoughtfully. "But I'm glad he's out of his misery."

Suddenly Bulma felt another tap on her shoulder, and turned to see that Mr. Graden was back. 

"Oh, hi!" she cried. "So you finished with the phone call?"

"Yes, I did," he said, smiling. "Where did Daniel go?"

"Oh, I think he's dancing with Nazomi now," said Bulma, looking around. 

Mr. Graden smiled. "And who are the lovely ladies?" he asked.

"Oh, this is Chi-Chi, this is Videl, and this is my daughter Bra."

"The pleasure of meeting you all has no equal," said Mr. Graden, bowing deeply.

"Nice to meet you too," said Videl, Chi-Chi nodding in agreement.

Bra just smiled when he looked at her, slightly nervous.

"I see that (...what was her name?) Mercy and her husband have made up," said Mr. Graden, looking at the dance floor where Mercy and Piccolo were dancing.

"Yeah," said Bulma. "I'm happy for them, Piccolo really keeps to himself a whole lot... speaking of that, where's Vegeta?" 

"Oh, I saw him go out that door," said Videl, pointing towards a door at the far side of the room, which they could just see the woods out of.

"Oh, okay," said Bulma. "I think I'll go and see him..."

"Oh, I'll come with you ," said Mr. Graden, clasping his hands together and bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I've never gotten a chance to meet him."

"Alright."

Bulma began walking through the crowd, Mr. Graden at her heels, speaking about his latest CC project.

"-And I thought that it could be used for Capsule Corporation's technological department," continued Mr. Graden. He was about to continue speaking, but Bulma had stopped in her tracks, causing him to crash into her back and push her forward slightly. 

"M-Mrs. Briefs, are you alright?" asked Mr. Graden, worried. 

Bulma's eyes widened, her face spliced with rage, horror, and fear. 

As she was walking, she'd been able to see more and more of the door as she got closer, and that's when she saw them. 

Vegeta, standing outside on the deck, his arms wrapped around - 

"The... the woman in my dream," croaked Bulma, her eyes widening even more.

"What, excuse me?" asked Mr. Graden, becoming even more worried. "Mrs... M-Mrs. Briefs, do you feel well?"

But Bulma couldn't here him - all she could hear was a strange buzzing in the back of her mind, an angry buzz, a buzz that blocked out all reason, a buzz that clouded her eyes, turning all of her vision red... 

Her face suddenly split into a look of pure rage as the woman Vegeta had been hugging stepped back and kissed him, holding his face with her hands. 

The woman kneeled, said something that Bulma couldn't hear over the buzz of the crowd, the buzz in her mind...

And she disappeared. 

Vegeta turned after a moment and leaned back on the railing, smiling to himself.

Smiling.

__

Smiling.

SMILING.

'Bulma, he's smiling!' cried a voice in Bulma's head. _'He liked that kiss!' _

Mr. Graden watched as Bulma's face scrunched up in a look of pure and utter fury, her eyebrows furrowing downward towards the top of her nose, her nose wrinkling up as her upper lip curled upward toward her nose, her teeth barred. 

"Mrs.-" Mr. Graden was about to ask Bulma if she were alright again, but stepped back as Bulma began breathing raggedly, breathing like a winded rhinoceros.

Now her breaths weren't even breaths anymore, they sounded more like hoarse grunts, each one getting louder. 

Mr. Graden backed up, heading in the direction they'd just come from. He backed into Bra, who yelped with surprise.

Mr. Graden, keeping his eyes on Bulma, felt around blindly behind him and grabbed Bra's arm.

"Ow - Mr. Graden, is something wrong?" asked Bra, looking at Mr. Graden nervously.

"Mrs. - Mrs. Briefs," said Mr. Graden. "Something's wrong with her..."

Bra looked at her mother and noticed this too - as did a lot of people. She noticed that a large group of people near her had stopped their festivities and were staring at her, whispering things like "What's wrong with her?" and "Maybe she doesn't like the party..."

Bulma suddenly opened her eyes, which had been clenched shut, and roared loudly enough to awaken the dead,

"VEGEEETAAAA!!!!"

Everyone suddenly went quiet , even the DJ stopped playing music. Everyone was looking around, wondering who or what she was talking about, wondering why she was so angry. 

"VEGETA, GET YOUR ASS _IN HERE_!!!!"

Bra rushed over to her mother and put her hand on her forearm, stepping in front of her.

"Mom, are you alright?" asked Bra, looking her mother in the face. 

Chi-Chi and Videl followed Bra and stood at her sides. Videl put her hand on Bulma's shoulder.

"Bulma, quiet down," she muttered, her eyes full of concern. "Just calm down-"

But Bulma only gave her a stern, ice cold stare, then wrenched away from the trio and stalked toward the door that led out to the deck, people moving out of her way as she came nearer.

Nazomi suddenly hopped up onto a table near the front door, her hands raised in the air.

"Alright, everybody." she shouted loudly. "The party's over, you ain't gotta to go home, but you sure as hell can't stay here!!"

The buzz of people talking began again as Nazomi jumped off of the table and opened the large oak front doors, ushering people out.

"Yeah, that's it, c'mon..... hurry it up... (hey, put that glass back!).... you too, pal..."

~*-B-*~^~*-Y-*~

Vegeta's heart stopped. Bulma's ki was shooting through the roof.

__

'Bulma?' 

Was that Bulma he'd heard?

__

'No,' he thought. _'It couldn't be...'_

"VEGETA, GET YOUR ASS _IN HERE_!"

He swallowed and turned, walking toward the door of the deck. What could be wrong now? Had...

Had she seen Clarice....?

Worry crossing his face, he walked slowly over to the door of the deck and stepped inside to see Bulma, cutting easily through the crowd to get to him.

Suddenly the room seemed to be much less empty, people muttering and questioning what was going on as they headed towards the door - Nazomi was doing a good job of emptying the house. 

The only remains of people lingering around were friends and family - Trunks was standing in a corner of the room, looking apprehensive - Pan was standing next to a table near the center of the room - Piccolo and Mercy were still standing on the dance floor, Mercy looking anxious, though Piccolo looked intrigued - Marron, Krillin, Juuhachigou, Goten, Gohan, Uuband Goku were standing at the opposite corner of the room, and Bra, Chi-Chi and Videl were still standing where they were when Bulma had roughly discarded them. 

Nazomi suddenly shut the door after the last of the guests left, causing everyone to jump with surprise. 

"Sorry," she whispered.

Vegeta turned to see Bulma standing right in front of him, a look on her face that sent a terrified chill up his spine.

Everyone stood, the tension in the room too thick to even cut with an ax.

For a moment, everyone thought that nothing was going to happen, but a second later - 

__

SLAP.

Everyone gasped - Bulma'd raised her hand and pulled it back as far as it would go, then let it snap forward, slapping Vegeta as hard as she could.

Vegeta staggered backward, his hand on the bruised cheek, a look of horror on his face.

"Bulma, what-?"

"Oh," she said in a menacing voice, "don't you start playing innocent with me!"

Vegeta looked just as confused as everyone else did, trying to decipher what she was talking about. 

"Innocent, what are you talking-?"

"So is _this_ why your mood changed? Is this why you're so damned _happy_ all of a sudden?" cried Bulma, a pained, yet still angry look on her face.

"After everything I've done for you," she continued, her voice cracking slightly, "You have to _cheat on me...?"_

Her voice was barely a whisper as she said the last few words, though somehow everyone heard her clearly. 

"How _could_ you?" she whispered. 

Vegeta looked confused for a moment, then finally realized what was going on.

So she _had_ seen Clarice.... she'd seen him hug her, and she'd seen Clarice kiss him....

And she thought that he was cheating on her.

"Let me explain," he said quietly, grasping her arm firmly, yet gently. "I never cheated on you, I-"

Bulma wrenched her arm away from him, anger in her eyes again.

"Don't you lie to me, you bastard!" she roared, her ki still rising. "That's all you are, just a cruel, lowly, cowardly, heartless, arrogant, selfish _BASTARD!!!_"

She suddenly raised her hand and tried to slap him again - but her hand came into contact with nothing but air.

"Bulma, I didn't cheat on you," she heard Vegeta say from behind her. "I never would, I-"

"Oh, yeah?" cried Bulma, turning to face him, her hand still raised. "Who was she then, huh? What was that hug about? And the kiss?"

"If you give me a chance to explain, I'll tell you everything-"

And she yet again interrupted him, calling him names and screaming insults at him as the rest of the Z Warriors watched, some filled with anger, some filled with worry, others intrigued by the argument. 

Vegeta was beginning to get angry now - he was trying to be calm with her, something that never really came easily to him anyway, but she was testing the small amount of patience that he had left - the two weeks of straining and stressing himself out with the burden of having to decide if he wanted to leave earth or stay had taken up all of his mental energy, and it was all that he could not to throw in her face that he'd given up the Saiyajin Empire to be with her, and that now he was officially no longer the Prince of the almighty Saiyajins. 

He wanted to shove it in her face so badly, just to shut her up and show her that she was completely wrong... but he just couldn't. 

Vegeta grasped her shoulders tightly, a bit less gently than he'd grasped her arm, but not enough to hurt her. 

"Bulma, calm down," he said slowly and clearly, a slight silver of anger in his voice. "I did not cheat on you, Clarice was-"

"Oh, so that's her name?" cried Bulma, looking disbelieving. "I don't understand it, Vegeta," she whispered. "I've done everything I ever could for you, took care of when you were hurt, let you stalk around with that arrogant attitude of yours, let you blow up that God-damned gravitron more times than I could count, just to fix it again and again... and this is how you repay me...?"

She shrugged her shoulders, shrugging his hands off of her.

"You know what?" she said, her voice at a dangerously low volume. "I'm not even going to yell anymore." 

Now Vegeta began to panic - it had been much better when she was yelling, but now... he hated the disappointment in her voice.

"I'm not even going to yell anymore," she repeated, looking at the floor. "You know why...?"

She looked Vegeta in the eye, and he saw pain and anger there, a blue storm raging in her eyes. 

"You're not even worth it."

Vegeta's face faltered. _'She couldn't have meant that,' _he thought, panicking even more. _'She couldn't have...' _

"Vegeta, get out."

Bulma raised her arm and pointed towards the door, her hand shaking slightly.

__

"GET OUT."

"But Bulma, I-"

"Get out!!!" she screamed now, her entire body shaking with fury. "I never want to see you again! _EVER!!!"_

He was going to speak again, but stopped, knowing she'd only start screaming at him.

Giving her one last hopeful look, he walked silently but quickly to the front door, wrenched it open, and blasted off into the night sky. 

*Valerie gasps* OMG! Bulma thinks that Vegeta was cheating on her! So what will happen? Will Bulma ever learn the truth about what happened? How will she find out? Will Clarice really be killed? How did the rest of the Z Warriors react? Will they agree with Bulma? And who really ever did buy that pink tube-top?

__

*Valerie has a nervous breakdown* Of course, you all know what's happened, right? I think that the staff of FF.net did the right thing to shut down the site for 24 hours... this is horrible. I still don't believe it. I'm serious.... this is too much like a movie plot or something.... but I'm gonna pray that everything will be okay... !_! But this could seriously be the beginning of World War III.

Luckily my Uncle Reginald (who works about three blocks from the WTC) was sent across the city for a training course, and he's alright...

But my BFF Hanshin (Remember Hershey?) has an Uncle that works at the Pentagon... and we haven't heard from him yet. I hope he's safe. 

Too bad for the Spiderman movie that's supposed to be coming out, eh? The first shot of the movie is these bad guys in a helicopter... and guess where Spiderman catches them? He webs them between the two towers. 

And the song that I put in there (While Veggie was on the deck) was _I Don't Wanna _by Aaliyah... it was kind of a little tribute to her, though it was a sucky tribute.... may she rest in peace. (It was one of my fave songs by her! ::sniff::)

So... on a _much_ lighter side....

I wanna give a huge thanx to Chibi Fire for helping me with the HTML thing. 

I also want to say to Celeste: I like Jericho too! ^_______^

and Nova Starlight, I won't yell at you or anything for your review - you're absolutely right, and I'll try not to do it again. The same thing happened to me - I thought that the story "Breath Away" had a new chapter, but it was just a note ! - So I understand how you feel. 

Well I have a looooooooooot more to say... but I won't bore you.... for now.

P.S. If you guys want me to put up a pic on my profile thingy of what Clarice is kinda supposed to look like, please review!!!!

Please...? 


End file.
